Ten Seconds To Love
by AceOfSpades1980
Summary: The Eds and the Kankers never stop the fighting. But, when a new person moves into the Cul-de-sac, he gets thrown into the battle very suddenly. Can he change the two sides's opinion of each other? And will feelings that aren't common arise? Only one way to find out... (Romance/Humor/Drama/a bit of Fighting)
1. Chapter 1: In The Beginning

Chapter 1: In The Beginning

(Chris's POV)

So, it's now Thursday I think, and I just moved into this place called the Cul-de-sac, and it's pretty cool, so far at least. I haven't met anyone from here yet, but I'll do it tomorrow. There's two other places, like that construction yard, but I don't think any workers have bothered finishing up the stuff there. Also, there's a place called Park-N-Flush, which is a strange place, as only trailers are found there. Plus, a specific blue trailer has something going on, according to some rumors. Best keep an eye out. Anyway, can't wait for tomorrow.

The next day...

"Oh boy." thought Chris to himself, leaving his home to see what this new place is about. He planned to do this on Friday, and today was Friday. Then he hears something from afar...

"Ed, let go of it you idiot!"

Chris decided to walk towards the source of the voice. Granted, the voice wasn't hard to follow, as it was pretty loud. Chris wandered closer, until he saw who it was.

"Eddy, what can you do when you've got a shoe and you got no soul?" a second voice said.

"What the heck are you two doing?" said a third voice.

Chris saw three dudes over near a backyard trying to bulid something and fighting over a piece of scrap from a part. He decided to talk to them and see what was up.

"Hey, you three, what's going on here?" Chris said.

"Oh, greetings, are you the new kid that moved here sometime ago? My name is Double D."

"Yeah, I moved here sometime ago. My name's Chris."

"A new kid? Well, welcome my good friend! My name is Ed!" Chris and Ed shake hands, with Chris noticing a piece of toast on his arm.

"Hi there, also what's with the toast? It's on your arm." Chris said getting confused.

"That's just my lunch, don't worry I will eat it!" Ed gets the toast off and starts eating it, kinda making Chris roll his eyes at what he saw.

"My name's Eddy, the coolest here!"

"Oh really? Sounds promising. You already know my name of course." Chris seemed to be at peace, as he seemed to enjoy the presence of the three boys he met.

"What are you guys trying to make here?" Chris asked, looking at a machine that looked unfinished.

"It's a mutant alien repelent to fight off evil aliens from the bottom of hades!" Ed said, making a reference to a comic. Chris laughed at the answer, obvious that it wasn't what Ed said.

"That's stupid!" said Eddy. "What we have here is what I call, Edlines airservice!"

"So a plane then?" Chris asked.

"Not 100% Chris." Double D said, "What we have here is moreso a chair that takes us to any of the residents of the wonderful Cul-De-Sac. Basically, select the residence, and off you go!"

"Hmm... it sounds easy enough, but it doesn't look very... well..." Chris got interrupted by Eddy.

"Rich? Fancy? Don't you worry because we Eds know what rich looks like."

Chris responds, "That isn't what I was going to say. Actually it looks nowhere near finished."

Eddy realized that it wasn't finished, then said, "Ed! Give me the stupid part so we can keep going!"

"Apologies for that Chris, Ed wants to toy around with the part, but we need it for the machine, which yes, I will admit isn't finished, but I'm sure it will once we begin progess." Double D explained. Eddy kept fighting with Ed over the part. Chris, while he may have laughed, thought they should stop.

"Okay, this is silly, both of you calm down!"

They surprisingly stopped and decided to listen to Chris.

"Isn't there another one like this?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, at the Parknado-Toliet!" Ed said.

Chris confused, says, "Ed, is that place even real?"

Ed points at an area and says, "Over there!"

Chris laughs and realizes what Ed meant to say.

"That is called the Park-n-Flush, not the Parknado-Toilet dude!"

Eddy, knowing who is there, tells Chris in a panicked state, "No wait!".

Chris and Ed get confused.

"I know someone who has millions of these! Let's just... go to them! Yeah...!"

Chris thinks this is a joke to make Eddy look better than Ed, so he says, "Eddy, you are clearly lying. Come on, I'll help ya out."

Double D was sweating beyond belief, and it wasn't hard for Chris, Ed or Eddy to notice.

"Dude, here's a towel, wow, you are gonna drown yourself so fast! Relax." Chris said.

Chris knows there's some reason why Double D and Eddy were unwilling to go to the Park-n-Flush, but he has 0 idea of why, or a clue even. He had to find out, as this would make things hard.

As they arrive to the Park-n-Flush...

"Well, the conditions of this area are making me wonder how anyone could live in this mess!" said Double D.

"Ed, where is the part?" Chris asked.

"Uh... in that blue trailer!" Ed responded.

Eddy and Double D quickly run over and say, "Chris wait!".

Chris sighs, and says, "Oh, now what?!".

They don't say anything to him, and Ed is seemingly forgetting why his friends are scared of the place they are going to.

Getting annoyed, Chris says, "This is dumb, are you two just scared of something here?"

Ed, randomly, says, "It's gotta be the return of the mole mutants! They have returned to capture us, and feed and dine on us for their supper!"

Chris, knowing that Ed's brain is referring to a comic, laughs and rolls his eyes. Eddy and Double D still were nervous to go near the blue trailer.

"Okay, relax Ed, that's most likely not what's there." Chris responded.

Ed decided to point at the item that he meant, and it was an anchor.

"Hmm... do you want to rip a side off?" Chris said.

"Ed! How does this replace our part!" Eddy said, a bit annoyed.

"Eddy, think about it! If Ed gets the anchor, he can play with that and we can use the part!" said Double D.

"Good idea, but we need to get inside though. Let me try the door." responded Chris.

To everyone's surprise, the door was open, and no one was home. Chris noticed that Double D and Eddy were much less nervous than they were on the way here. Unsurprisingly, Ed grabbed the anchor, but he also, unknowingly, got a bottle with a ship inside on the anchor's side. None of the boys noticed the object, as Chris noticed Eddy and Double D finally cooling down, and Ed was happy with his own "toy".

They leave the Park-n-Flush...

They arrive back to the machine.

"That was so wrong! How could we just take the personal belongings of someone and just act all cool like nothing wrong happened!" Double D blurted.

Ed and Chris simply didn't understand him, and Eddy responded to Double D saying,

"What are you on about this time!"

Double D simply said, "How can you just sit there and pretend to think that all is going well? We will be held to our mortality standards and feel horrible due to our actions! I can't comprehend how you three are all dandy, while I'm here-" Double D got interrupted by Chris, who threw a book at him.

"Please, SHUT UP! Listen, I get what you are saying, but making a circus act about this will not help us! Look, me and Ed will return to the trailer, and return it, once we are done. Happy?" Chris said in an annoyed tone.

"When, thanks Chris, saved me the trouble." Eddy said.

"Well, I suppose I can live with that. Thank you for having reason and standards." said Double D.

"Relax, I got this." Chris said.


	2. Chapter 2: So Far, So Good

Chapter 2: So Far, So Good...

All four boys worked together to get the machine in a more finished state. Ed played with the anchor a few times, but helped out Chris when he needed help lifting something. Eddy really only assisted Double D with passing him items he needed to fix/put something in.

However, it was almost 8:30 PM, and the boys decided it was a better idea to wait until tomorrow to finish the machine.

"Well, I must say our machine has been improved by a large amount. Thanks for your assistance Chris!" said Double D.

"No issue really, it's all fine." Chris responded.

"Wait! Why don't we go crash at your place my guy? After all, we only met today, no?" said Eddy.

Chrie thought about how it would be inviting the Eds over, as he didn't exactly know how they would act. He decided to risk it and invite them until 11:00 PM.

"Oh what's the issue? Heck, if you want a sleepover I'll be up for it." Chris responded.

"Well, I'm not sure if your parents will approve..." Double D responded to Chris.

"They aren't home right now, they left the house to me, as they are getting things for the house." Chris explained to Double D.

"Party at Chris's house!" yelled Ed.

The boys agreed and made their way to the new house of Chris. However, Chris and Ed had completely forgetten about returning the anchor, something that they would return to later.

Meanwhile...

"Alright, which ones of you grabbed the ship-in-a-bottle!" said a voice.

"It wasn't us, so shut your mouth!" yelled another voice.

"Maybe we should give our 'friends' a visit, right girls?" said yet another voice.

"Yes, good idea. Let's go." responded the first voice that spoke originally.

Back At Chris's house...

"So, what do you guys wanna do?" said Chris.

"Holy cow!" said Eddy, as he went into the living room. "Look at all these systems! Let's try one of them!"

"Alright, sure. Let's see how good you guys are at one of my favorites." Chris responded.

Chris decided to turn on one of his systems, and put in one of his favorite racing games. While he is very good at the game himself, the Eds were random. Double D, not playing games much, was making several mistakes that made the other 3 laugh. Ed, somehow, not playing games about racing much, was really good at the game, going so far as to win the "Dream Car Championship", something Chris planned to do, but was impressed by how Ed successfully won all 7 races. Eddy wasn't bad, but he drove in an aggressive manner, making him go off-track a lot of the time. Chris made fun of Eddy for constantly thinking that ramming cars was the correct way.

Double D decided to try again...

"Double D! Quit playing before my grandma puts your driving to shame!" Eddy said laughing at Double D's driving.

"I think Chris should give Double D a sandal. It is always baked fresh!" Ed said, randomly.

Chris facepalmed, saying, "Ed... that wouldn't work."

"Let me teach you Double D, but if you won't listen, forget it." Chris said to Double D.

"Well, I welcome the opportunity to expand my own self to become better!" Double D responded.

"Relax with the words, ahaha." Chris simply said.

Chris then taught Double D the correct buttons, the ideal ways to move the car from turn-to-turn, how to correctly adjust the suspension and explaining to him what certain things do to the car, the purposes for certain upgrades, and many other things that helped Double D out. He tried the same championship Ed did. While he came 2nd place overall, it was a massive improvement over being last place all the time. Chris felt at ease, knowing he successfully helped him improve by a mile.

However... while they are playing...

"It ain't here either, and the kid wouldn't talk." said one voice.

"Hmm... maybe our boyfriends have it!" said the same voice.

"Alright, let's find them!" yelled another voice.


	3. Chapter 3: The Ultimate Sin

Chapter 3: The Ultimate Sin

(11:30 PM) The boys were enjoying their gaming session and were planning on doing a sleepover, since Chris had 0 issue with it.

"Where do you guys wanna sleep?" said Chris.

"I would prefer somewhere that-" Double D got interrupted by someone smacking on the door very loudly, scaring all 4 of them.

"Come on out boys! We know you guys are in there!" said a voice that scared the Eds.

"Who is that?" said Chris, quietly but rapidly.

The Eds were too scared to respond. Chris quickly shoved them into an empty closet big enough for them, which was upstairs.

"Keep quiet, I will handle this." Chris told the Eds.

"Oh no, he is a goner!" Eddy said very quietly.

Chris wasn't looking foward to seeing who it was at the door. He had an idea to fake being asleep, and just being woken up. He hoped that it would work.

"Dude... what the heck?" said Chris.

"A little bird told us you have something of ours." said one of the girls.

"Who are you three even...?" Chris responded.

"My name is Lee, blue-haired is Marie, and blonde is May." said Lee. "We're the Kanker sisters!"

Chris still wasn't sure why they would be at his door.

"Okay... cool, I guess... but what is it you want?" Chris asked, hoping they wouldn't mention the Eds.

Marie got impatient and got closer to him. Chris was getting concerned.

"Whar are you doing?" said Chris, sounding serious.

"You know you have something that belongs to us!" Marie responded.

Chris laughed at her, and said, "Are you serious? I legit moved here 2 days ago. Why would I have anything that is yours?"

Marie shouted in his face and said, "Tell us where our 'something' is!"

Chris pushed her away, and said, "Watch. your. mouth." Marie stood there annoyed.

Lee got involved and said, "Listen tough guy, give us our thing, and I will forget it, Deal?"

Chris started thinking about what to say, until he just came up with a simple answer.

"The thing is, I don't even know what it is. Even then, am I supposed to care?" Chris said.

Lee laughed at him and said, "We're lookin for our ship-in-a-bottle. Here, I'll make this easy. You can either help us, regardless if you like it or not, or-" Lee was interrupted by Chris slamming the door, surprising the girls.

"Get outta here, find that thing yourselves, losers!" Chris shouted.

Meanwhile, with the Eds...

"Eddy, we need to help him! I can't beliece we just left gim to their unrepenting ways!" said Double D, in a panicked state.

"Why are they even here guys? Ed not happy, right now guys!" Ed said.

"I knew him well." Eddy said, scared.

Someone opens the door, and starts walking toward the cloest. The boys were panicking, and Double D passed out, as he couldn't handle the pressure. The cloest door was unlocking.

"I'm back, I hope they left." Chris said, as he opened the door.

"You're still alive? How!? I thought you were caught!" Eddy yelled out.

"I'm fine. But, the heck is with Double D and Ed?"

Chris and Eddy realized Ed was trying to give Double D CPR. They noticed Double D was out cold too, and woke up thanks to Ed blowing his rather smelly breath, and started freaking out and ran to the restroom to clean his mouth.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!!??" yelled Double D, very loudly.

Ed felt a bit sad, but there wasn't time until more noise happened at the door. The Kanker sister were ramming the door until it broke open. The boys ran downstairs to escape through the backdoor. Chris got annoyed as he left his house to those girls, but he had no time to think about that as they ran away. However, Ed grabbed the anchor he left in Chris's living room, somehow still having the ship-in-a-bottle.

They escaped through Chris's backyard...

...or did they?


	4. Chapter 4: Lock Up The Wolves

Chapter 4: Lock Up The Wolves

The boys escaped for now, and went to the construction site, left unfinished for quite a while. They got tired and hid in a rather big tractor.

"I... can't go... on..." said Double D, panting heavily.

"Okay, I think you three owe me an explaination. Why are those three chasing us? What do they want?" Chris said in a serious tone.

Usually Eddy would get Double D to explain, but since he could barely get a word out, due to being tired, Eddy decided to explain.

"Well my good man, ever wondered what the most annoying things could be?" said Eddy, trying to be rhetorical.

"THAT'S THOSE KANKERS!" Eddy yelled. "They always botber us to no end! They go around trying to me, Ed and Double D their boyfriends! In fact, I would rather eat my own sock, or better yet, live off nothing but Ed's gravy!"

Eddy was about to say something else, until Chris asked a question about the Kankers "loving" them.

"Wait... those three like you guys? Hang on, which girl likes who!?" Chris asked, finding what Eddy said hard to believe.

"Lee, redhead, 'likes' me, Double D got that blue-haired one, Marie, and May, Blonde, likes Ed." Eddy explained.

"And how long has this been going on? Have any of you said no?" Chris questioned.

"Ever since 8th grade! Also, saying no? Such a revolutionary idea! Double D tried that on Marie, and that got her so mad, he had kiss marks from head to toe!" yelled Eddy.

"Okay, seems like we need a plan. These three are big trouble it seems. Although... what else have they done to you and your 2 friends?" Chris said, concerned.

Eddy told Chris stories about their moments with the Kanker Sisters, for example, how Ed was kidnapped by two of them for entertaining May, the sisters getting tge Eds trapped in someone's wall, and the time when the Eds were getting married to the sisters, forcefully.

"Uh... I think that's enough. So, nearly a year of that... good lord." Chris said, dumbfounded at what he heard.

"Fellas, we need to get out of here, it's almost 12 in the morning!" whispered Double D.

The boys scanned the area, and the sisters seemed to be nearby, but they didn't notice them yet.

"Well, they don't see us." said Eddy.

Chris got an idea to confuse the sisters, which was to make a noise that would make the sisters think they were somewhere else. He got a empty can, and threw it towards boxes near them.

"I wonder who that is!" said Lee, loudly.

"Bingo." said Chris. "Let's move, NOW."

And so the boys, magically, managed to escape the junkyard. However, their troubles were not over yet, as they made it towards Chris's house, they looked outside a window to see if they were coming back. While they didn't return, the sisters were still hunting them.

"Can we get a birdhouse to farm?" Ed said, very randomly.

"No, why even?" Chris responded.

"We are running out of options gentlemen! Let's just turn ourselves in and work to pay them." Double D said.

Chris immediately slapped Double D, then saying,

"NO! And they will make you pay by giving you 700 kisses most likely, idiot!" Chris shouted.

"There's no need for rudeness Chris." said Double D.

Chris, shurging, said, "Then don't say that stuff!"

Eddy decides that they needed to risk it and sleep. "Guys! Let's just sleep! We'll rid us of these Kanker tomorrow. I swear on my grave!"

Chris, extremely exhuasted, reluctantly agreed. Ed Double D also agreed. The boys spent around 15 minutes arranging themselves for sleepung. They fell asleep quick, as all 4 were very tired.

(12:30 AM) Meanwhile, with the Kankers...

"Where the heck are they? I wanna pound that jerk who slammed the door on us!" Marie shouted.

"Maybe if you shut your little mouth, we'd have those 4, now shut up and find them!" Lee said, punching Marie directly in the face, making her fall over.

"But Lee, weve looked around everywhere, and they aren't here!" said May.

Lee eventually decided to stop looking ariund, as she was also very tired.

"Girls! We are leaving. They'll never know what we got for them!" Lee said, grinning.

What does that mean...?


	5. Chapter 5: Be All, End All

Chapter 5: Be All, End All

(9:30AM) The next morning...

Double D was the first of the crew to wake up, although a bit disgusted by how he didn't have his pajamas on for sleeping, so he had to sleep in the clothes that he was using yesterday. Naturally, he made breakfast for himself while waiting for the other 3 to wake up. He started wondering how he and the crew were going to start getting rid of the Kankers, as, sure, thanks to Chris they have the number advantage, but this hardly improves chances to win. Double D tried his hardest to think of a plan, but first he wanted to see what Chris could do.

"Agh..." said Chris, who was waking up.

"Good morning Chris, I hope you are well today." Double D said to him.

"Hi Double D, I assume we are fine and safe from the Kankers?" asked Chris.

"Indeed. None of them are near." Double D told him.

"Well, in that case, I have some ideas, but let's wait for Ed Eddy to wake up." Chris told Double D.

Ed and Eddy woke up around 15 minutes later, and so all the boys (minus Double D, who already made his breakfast) made their breakfast, and ate while discussing the crazy events of yesterday. Once they all finished their breakfast, they went to the living room, and now were starting to make up plans. Chris now was going to share his ideas.

"Okay, Eddy told me the history of you three and these girls, and... I must ask, have any of you even tried to say no? And I don't mean a normal no, I mean, a very loud no."

All the Eds shook their heads from side-to-side, saying no.

"Let's try that first. After all, you don't like them, do you?"

Eddy gagged, and said, "Heck no! I'd rather wear Ed's clothes for a week!"

"They aren't on sale Eddy!" Ed, in a funny tone, responded to Eddy's statement.

"Yes well... I suppose it's the most civil plan. Might I ask what the other plans are?" said Double D.

"I'll tell them in due course, right now, let's get the plan prepared."

(10:15 AM) 30 minutes later...

With everything planned out, Chris got the basic idea. The Eds were going to get dressed up, and if the Kankers were to come up, they would lie about having a triple date, and if they still didnt go away, they would, loudly, say no to them. However, this plan has danger involved, because how the Kankers would react is something he had 0 control over. He would just have to hope that if it got out of hand, it wasn't violent, as sure, he likes violent movies/games, but he dislikes real life violence.

"Dude, this story is NOT reality. What are you saying?" said Chris.

Well... okay, good point. Nevermind then.

"Who are you talking to mister?" a curious Ed said.

"No one. Let's get ready boys! This just might work... I hope." Chris said.

"Chris! This is absurd! This has a low probability of success, I'm afraid of the consequences we shall have to endure!" said Double D, very nervous.

Chris rolled his eyes and said, "Look, all you have to do is act convincingly. Ok? Nothing else. Plus, I'll escort you three to your 'dates'. Trust me."

"Now, let's get you dressed up now, and head out at 11, that's a good time." Chris told the boys.

Eddy wasn't 100% confident, saying, "You better be sure about this, or we are goners!"

Chris laughed a bit, saying, "Don't worry, I got your back. If anything goes wrong. I'll do what is needed."

Chris knew however that there was danger to be near all 4 of them, but he decided to just focus on the plan for right now.

"Anyways, might we start the dressing process?" Chris, in a funny tone, responded.

And so, skipping over the details, Chris went with every Ed boy to their houses, talked with each one of what to do, and what they shouldn't do when the sisters show up. Plus, he promised to walk them towards a restaurant to their "dates", in order to defend them from the sisters. Although, easier said then done, so the saying goes. And so, the boys went outside, and began the plan.

Little did any of them know what could happen...


	6. Chapter 6: Who Cares Wins

Chapter 6: Who Cares Wins

The boys started heading towards the main Cul-De-Sac street, until the kids there stopped what they were doing and saw the 4 boys.

"Hey Dork, Dork, and Dorky! Where are you heading to!" yelled one of the kids.

Chris decided to speak for them, saying, "They got dates, now move aside please."

"Wait, aren't you the new kid that moved here? Well, seems like this place has some fresh air now huh? My name is Kevin." Kevin said, raising his fist like a high-five towards Chris. Chris put his fist up and he Kevin shook.

"Ah yes, welcome to our cul-de-sac, Rolf welcome you… um… what is your thing that is a name?" Rolf said.

"Name's Chris, nice to meet you." Chris responded.

"Wow Plank, look a new kid! Name's Jonny!" Jonny Chris shook hands.

"Guys, I'd like to continue talking, but I gotta get these three to their VERY important dates." Chris said, trying to not laugh.

"Who are these dorks dating? Those Kankers?" Kevin said laughing.

Chris thought of names he could use for their fake dates, Rushed a lot, but it worked.

"Let me explain, Eddy is dating someone named Zoey, Double is dating someone called Mary, and Ed is with Jane." Chris said, again, trying not to laugh.

He doubted that the kids would believe him, but, to his surprise, they believed him.

"Well, good luck, don't grow a lump in your throat also!" Kevin said, laughing.

"Oh, they'll grow one alright!" said a distant voice

The Eds already knew who was coming, but they tried to remain calm, due to someone being there who wouldn't panic at the sight of the sisters.

"Well, here we go, oh dear…" thought Chris.

"Looks like our men dressed up for us!" said Lee.

Chris knew it was time to stand up, but there was some doubt to his plan. He decided to get for it, risking a lot in his mind.

"You're wrong." Chris blurted out, nervously.

The sisters looked at the boys in a suspicious way, because of what Chris said.

"What are you saying though guy?" Lee responded.

Somehow the Eds didn't panic, they were just slightly nervous, but not to a noticeable degree. However, they couldn't really say anything.

"Yeah, they have a date with 3 girls, and I'm helping them out." Chris said.

The Kanker realized what he said, and all 3 had very different reactions. Chris was shocked that they didn't start beating the boys up. Instead, they all reacted very differently to what Chris said. Lee was very angry, not at Chris, but at Eddy, due to the idea of someone "stealing her man", and him accepting that girl would make her so mad. Eddy noticed she was mad, and decided to do a rather risky move.

"Yeah, this girl called Zoey, she is a thousand times better looking than-" Eddy was cut off by Lee punching him in the face, pretty badly.

"Eddy, are you ok?" Double D said, going towards Eddy, along with Chris.

However, Double D was thrown down to the ground by Marie, who was insanely mad at him for going with someone that wasn't her.

"YOU'RE LEAVING ME!?" Marie shouted to Double D's face.

Double D couldn't say anything, as Chris charged at Marie, pushing her away from Double D.

'Get off of him, you idiot!" Chris yelled towards Marie.

Marue quickly got up and threw a metal tire iron, and threw it towards Chris, but it missed by going towards the left, not directly at him.

"Really?" Chris said, "Alright, wait there!

Chris decided to grab the tire iron... and throw it across the Cul-De-Sac, leaving Marie with no weapon.

"Double D, you okay?" Chris said.

"Yes, I am okay. Wait! Eddy!" Double D rapidly went to Eddy, who was still on the floor.

"Ugh! Stupid Kankers!" Eddy yelled.

Ed was secretly hiding, but May was nowhere to be found. The two other sisters noticed this, abd started to wonder where she was. Double D then hears a noise from a bush, however.

"Um, do you hear that gentlemen?

"Yeah... Hmm..." Chris said, listening.

"Are those crickets from basketball guys?" Ed, randomly said.

Chris, wondering what Ed just said, simply responded, "That isn't a thing Ed."

"It isn't? Aw." Ed responded.

Chris went towards the sound, before he now realized what the sound was. It was someone crying pretty badly, and Chris could only guess where this could go.

The moment Chris saw who it was, he was a bit surprised, as it was May, who ran away to cry about how Ed never liked her and "left" her for someone else. Chris was mixed, as while he felt kinda bad for May, she had to learn that what she was doing was flat out wrong.

"Um... excuse me Chris, what's going on?" said Double D, out of nowhere.

"I saw May, and well... nice to know someone has emotion, hmm?" Chris said.

"Girls, let's go! These guys amount to dirt." said Lee

Marie raised her fist as if she was going to punch Double D, but she stopped short before she walked away, very angry at him.

May went with her sisters, very sad about what she learned.

And before everyone knew it, the sisters left, and the boys were surprised at what just happened.

"That worked?" Chris blurted out.

"Dude, what was that about?" asked Kevin.

Since the Kankers were gone, Chris explained to Kevin the whole idea he and the Eds came up with, and that it worked because now, they think the Eds are taken.

"So yeah, these boys are now free." Chris said.

Kevin grinned a bit, saying, "Nice one, that should keep those creeps away from all of us!"

"Let's celebrate boys!" yelled Eddy.

Ed was standing there with a funny grin, while Double D was wondering if what they did was, as he put it, "the right thing".

Meanwhile, with the Kankers...

"Mom was right, men do amount to a pile of dirt!" Lee said, as she kicked the door open.

May simply didn't say anything, as she was sad at what she was told.

"If I find whoever stole Double D, I'll fight her for that!" yelled Marie.

Lee then got an idea, in order to "win" the Eds back.

"So, you would fight for your man, right?" asked Lee.

Both sisters said yes, and so, now this time, the girls were planning their idea to win the Eds back. However, if you think that they are going to turn more sweet, or nice, or anything of that sort, sadly, that is not what they have in mind...

"Hey bozo! What are you saying?" Lee yelled.

Uh... nothing.

"That's what I thought, shoo!"

Well, that wasn't nice.

Anyways, the Kankers spent around an hour or so planning a surprise for rhe Eds. May got over her sad feeling, as the plan was for the sisters to prove that they were, lack of better words, "the better" girls.

This won't go well...


	7. Chapter 7: Dream Evil

Chapter 7: Dream Evil

"Well girls, ready?" said Lee.

"I'll show Double D what he gets for leaving me like that!" Marie shouted.

May was happy that she, in her mind, was going to prove herself to Ed, as she feel apart when she heard the news from Chris.

It was around 10:30 PM, and everyone was sleeping, besides Ed, staying up watching horror and Sci-fi movies, along with reading comics about human apocalypses, alien invasions, and other comic book stuff.

As for Double D, he slept at around 8:40 PM, as the celebration for what they did left him very exhausted, and in need of sleep.

Eddy slept at around 9:15 PM, due to him being glad about being rid of Lee.

Chris slept at 10 PM, as he relaxed, and played games while being glad that he helped out the boys.

Or so, he thought...

The next 4 days were some of the worst days ever for the Eds with the Kankers, as the sisters kept... well..."adoring" them 24/7. On Wednesday, at 11 PM, the Eds decided to go to Chris for help.

Again.

(10:40 PM) "Alright, that's enough of that." Chris said, finishing up the last race of a Championship.

Once he was done, he just began sleeping for around 20 minutes, until he hears very fast knocking and random hitting on his door.

"What the!"

Chris went down to see what in the world was going on at his door. He opens the door to Ed running into him, along with Double D and Eddy hitting from behind.

"Dude! Why are you three here?!" yelled Chris.

Chris notices the Eds covered in pure kiss marks and that the Eds were panicking.

"Jeez... relax dudes. What is going on?"

Chris closes the door and locks it, before then looking outside, to see if anyone is there. The coast seems clear.

"Alright, number one, take a towel or two and fix yourselves up."

Every Ed went ahead and cleaned themselves of the endless marks. Once they were done, Chris brought them to the living room to discuss what was going on.

"Okay, what happened?" asked Chris.

"Chris, I hate to be the one who presents bad news, but your plan has backfired!" said Double D.

"Those stupid Kankers have been bothering us for who know how long, and it got worse!" yelled Eddy

Chris then says, "How did they get this idea? You three didn't say that the dates were fake, right?"

All the Eds said no, but they had a hard time keeping the secret. Eddy came in and told Chris...

"It's been going on for 4 days now! It's gotten worse!"

"Wonderful..." said Chris, in a disappointed tone.

"Can we stay here!? Home is no longer safe!" Ed yelled, while sobbing a bit.

Chris rolled his eyes and chuckled before saying, "Yeah, don't worry."

Ed was glad at the fact that Chris allowed his friends and himself, thought he and his friends already slept here before.

"Here, let's sleep in the living room. I still have your sleeping bags you forgot about." Chris said.

Eddy then said, "Wait! What about a plan for those Kankers?"

"Next chapter, alright?" Chris said.

With that, the boys got set up and went to sleep.

But not until around 2 AM, where Ed woke everyone up due to screaming about having a nightmare where a, "monster May", chased him a lot around the Cul-De-Sac.

"EVIL! RUN AWAY!"

Chris groaned and said, "Ed, what?"

"REFLEX IN THE SKY WARNING US WE ARE GETTING GIRL GERMS!"

Chris got up and got a bucket with ice cold water, and splashed it onto Ed.

"You were singing Electric Funeral dude."

"Ed! Shut it will you! Trying ro get some shut eye here!" shouted Eddy.

"Ed, what happened?" said Double D.

"Monster May! She is attacking!" Ed says, not realizing he is out of dreamland.

Chris then decided to go the kitchen and got bread to make into toast. While that went on, Eddy threw his pillow at Ed, getting irritated with Ed's random yelling.

"Ed, shut up already!" yelled Eddy.

"Mind your manners Eddy!" said Double D.

Chris came back and had some buttered toast, due to him remembering how much Ed likes the stuff.

"Here."

Ed, in a microsecond, got up and ate the three toast pieces that Chris made.

"Well, that was rushed. Okay, forget sleeping, I'm gonna make some plans now." said Chris.

Well, this can only go well...


	8. Chapter 8: Shot In The Dark

Author's note: Merry Christmas to everyone! Hope you all have a good time today. Also, this is my favorite chapter so far, hope you all enjoy it. Cheers! :P

Chapter 8: Shot In The Dark

Chris came up with an idea for payback at 2:30 AM, however he fell asleep until 10:00 AM, due to still being sleepy thanks to Ed's little stunt. While he thought about a more complete version of the plan, the Eds were busy playing the game they played when they came over to the house originally. Double D then went to Chris, as Eddy kept taking all the turns.

"Excuse me Chris, but do you have anything?"

"Hmm... well, you know how they keep bothering you at night? I think we can put a little... 'surprise' for them." Chris said.

Double D looked at him, concerned, saying, "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Chris said, "Since they won't be home, you and the boys can leave them some, 'gifts', if you get the idea."

"You can't be serious! You want us to trespass into their home and violate-" Double D got interrupted by Chris, who said,

"We did that before dude."

Double D realized that Chris was right, but he realized something. Chris and Ed never returned the anchor they got from there, which makes Double D freakout.

"Good lord! We forgot about the anchor! We have violated the condominium of the Kankers and didn't even try to bring back their belonging! Oh what have we-"

Double D got cut off by Chris shoving an apple into his mouth, saying,

"Double D! Relax! Jeez, you're a drama queen. When we do the plan, I'll put the thing back where it was, alright? I got this."

Double D became slightly relieved that Chris had a plan, but was a bit worried at how things would play out, once they did Chris's idea. Regardless, Chris decided to get Ed and Eddy to let them into the plan.

"Yo, get over here, we have some planning to do."

"Always with the plan, alright, fine." responded Eddy.

"Anyone get a breathmint?" Ed blurted out.

Chris laughed a bit before inviting them to the kitchen and starting to discuss the plan for payback on the Kankers. Chris re-explained his idea that he told Double D to Ed Eddy, how they were gonna leave some "gifts" for the sisters once they went back to their trailer.

"Anyone got any ideas for what gifts to give?"

Ed said, "Oh, I know! Let's give them some goo!"

"Goo?" Chris asked. "Like the green stuff? If you have some to use then sure I suppose."

"Chris, are we sure exacerbating the Kankers is the best way?" said Double D.

"Do you have any other ideas?" responded Chris.

"I suggedt we respectfully just say no. After all, we will avoid-" Double D was cut off by Eddy, who said,

"That's stupid! In your dreams Double D, ask me, I would bring in one of Ed's stinky socks."

"Already taken Eddy!" yelled Ed.

"Guys, come on. We gotta get at least 3 things for the fake gifts." said Chris.

"Oh I know, let's write them some loooove letters!" Eddy said.

"Huh... what do you mean?" a curious Chris said.

Eddy laughed at his idea, and said, "Let's write them something rhat will make them never love us again!"

Chris thought about it, and concluded it as a very good idea.

"Okay, that's one idea. Good. Anything else?" Chris said.

"Oh I know!" Ed says running to get something.

"Hmm..." says Chris.

Ed returned with a soda he got from the fridge.

"Soda?" said Ed.

"Um, sure." Chris responded.

Chris opened the soda, and Ed did the classic trick where, you shake the can excessively, and when you open it, the can explodes the soda fizz out. All boys, even Chris, took that stunt as a funny idea.

"Well thanks for that. I think that's actually a good idea for a gift, perfect!" said Chris.

"Your wish is my middle toe!" said Ed.

Eddy came in and said, "We need a third idea guys!"

Chris then thouggt about an extra thing they could do.

"Guys, I got an idea."

Chris runs to his room and gets some CDs to show the Eds.

"And what would CDs do exactly?" asked Double D.

Chris played one of them, and quite quickly they realized what Chris had in mind, as the song was very heavy/fast, plus it was sort of explicit. The Eds had different reactions.

"Whoa! This is crazy!" said Eddy.

"Eddy, you can't seriously be thinking about doing something of very high superciliousness to them?" responded Double D.

Chris rolled his eyes, and said, "Would you prefer I drop you back at your house when Marie is there? I'm sure she would love that."

Ed Eddy laughed at what Chris said, but Double D simply said, in a panicked state...

"YOU WOULDN'T DARE!"

Chris chuckled before saying, "Then relax. We got this covered."

"How are we going to play these things into the plan is better to think about than Double D's girlfriend." Eddy said.

"Don't worry, I have a perfect idea for that." said Chris.

"Oh yeah, why don't we leave their trailer a bigger mess than Eds room!" Eddy suggested.

Chris thought about it before he said...

"Nah, not the best idea. Remember, we want them to find gifts, not a mess. We can do thar another time though."

Eddy groaned a but, but then he realized that Chris had a good point.

"Well, alright. But we need Double D to chip in!"

Double D only had one idea to help out, which he said was,

"Well, we can leave boxes filled disgusting containments, but I'll need an hour."

Chris was surprised at how Double D stopped poking holes, but regardless all four boys decided to begin the last stages of planning.

"Alright, let's strike at around 11:30 PM, and leave before 1 AM."

Later...

(7:30 PM)

The boys are currently finishing up their plans before they meet up at Chris's house. Double D decided to go to Chris in order to try and convince him to not do this plan, as he think it's not "the right thing".

"Chris, please consider what we are doing! This is absurd, as we are going into the lion's den, and with no backup plan!"

Chris laughed at Double D, the latter of which was confused now.

"Dude, you said that the Kankers strike mostly at night these days, right? We can use this against them, as they will never be expecting anyone at their trailer." Chris responded.

Double D realized that this was true, however, he then brought up what could happen afterwards.

"But what about what happens afterwards?"

Chris sighed, and said, "Look, let's wait it out at my place alright? You're gonna be fine, relax already, geez."

Double D, while still doubtful deep down, decided to agree, and discussed a couple more things about the plan in order to be, "up-to-speed", so to say, about the plan.

This could go anywhere...


	9. Chapter 9: Breaking All The Rules

_Author's note: Holy crap, sorry for being off the grid for like 2 months. To tell you the truth, I simply got busy and caught up with stuff, that I forgot about this whole thing. But, not to worry, I will make sure this story ends up getting to the end of it's arc. Continuing onward! _

Chapter 9: Breaking All The Rules

(11:15 PM)

The boys began heading down the construction yard, then they went to the Park-n-flush, in order to get a head start on the sisters. They get to the trailer, and they decided to see if the sisters were home. Surprisingly, they were, but then Lee shouted.

"Girls! It's time to prove them wrong!"

Marie May immediately ran to Lee, and they went off to find the Eds. Little did they know that the Eds were watching feom a window, along with Chris. The sisters left, and to the boy's benefit, Lee forgor to lock the door.

"Bingo. Let's go." said Chris.

"Move out boys!" yelled Eddy

And so, fhe boys made their way inside the trailer, and are looking outside, to make sure that the Kankers had left the trailer to "adore" the Eds.

"I think we are safe. Let's begin, shall we boys?" said Eddy.

"Indeed. Here we go." responded Chris

Let's see how this goes...

(11:30 PM) The boys began their little plan to leave the fake gifts for the Kankers. Ed simply went to the fridge and shook the sodas until he felt the cans shake, which then he left in the fridge. However, Ed brought a big bottle of soda, that he shook the whole time on the way there, as his "gift" for May. He left it in the sister's room, with a note saying,

"2: May

Form: Ed"

Eddy simply left several short poems, largely insulting Lee, as he, simply put; hated her a lot. He had only written around 4 lines for every poem, but he was sure that it would convey his point.

Meanwhile, Double D put his 3 small gifts for Marie bear the sister's bed. However, he felt extremely ashamed, as he wanted to try something a more civilized approach, not a rather, "disgusting", approach that Ed, Eddy, and Chris settled on. Nevertheless, he placed the gifts and ran away from where he placed them.

Chris spent most of the time just watching the windows to see if the sisters returned in the event of the need for a really quick escape, or to alert the Eds either way. Plus, he finally returned the anchor that he promised to return.

30 minutes later...

(12 AM) "How are those three not home yet?" said Chris.

"I think they got lost guys!" yelled Ed.

Eddy groaned and said, "Ed! Zip it! They are looking for us, stupid!"

Eddy and Ed were going back and forth, Chris found something that made him laugh kinda loudly.

"Pardon me Chris, but what's funny?" asked a curious Double D.

Chris grinned before saying, "Look over there."

Double D, along with Eddy Ed, look to where Chris said. At that moment, Chris couldn't help but laugh at what he saw. It was three drawing of the Eds getting married to the Kankers separately.

"Wow. You guys never catch a break, do you?" Chris said in a mocking funny tone.

"Please tell me that didn't happen!" said Double D.

Ed simply said, "It didn't happen!"

"Let's destroy these things! Ugh!" Eddy yelled.

"Whoa there, hold on! If we destroy those, they will think the gifts are fake or something." responded Chris.

"Chris does have a point Eddy, the Kankers will surely catch onto us if we destroy the drawings." said Double D.

Eddy groaned before saying, "What's a guy gotta do to get something good for once?!"

Chris decided to do the last step, as he was sure that the Kankers would return soon.

"Let's do one more thing, then we leave." said Chris.

Chris got out a CD contained 25 different "love" songs, and put it inside a CD player in the trailer, with a little note, saying,

"Click play for a sweet gift. :)"

"Cool." said Ed, randomly.

However, the boys heard voices from a bit far away, that were quite loud, that it was easy to both know who it was, and how far it was.

"Uh oh." said Chris.

However, Double D didn't listen, as he found a diary laying out on the floor, opened and all. He saw the front which said, "Marie Kanker".

"Oh dear..." said Double D.

"Double D! We gotta move!"

Chris grabbed Double D, who was holding Marie's diary once he had found it.

"Wait, where are we going?" said Double D, concerned.

"There is a window upstairs, we can escape through there!" responded Chris, quickly.

All four boys ran out the window, however Double D still had Marie's diary, as all but Double D himself were ready for a rapid escape. They ran so fast that they made it to the cul-de-sac in less than five minutes. However, all four were very exhausted, but they managed to get into Chris's house just in time.

"Whoo! We did it... not bad...!" Chris said, panting.

Ed blurted out, "I'm hungry guys, breakfast?"

"Ed, it's 12 in the morning stupid!" Make us dinner or something!" yelled Eddy.

"I'll help out there too." responded Chris.

Double D was still scared of the fact he had Marie's diary, but he hid it in his beanie for now, and said to the crew, "Let's see what we can do."

What about the Kankers? Well...

(12:05 AM) The sisters returned to their trailer, only to have several surprises waiting for them.

"Whoa." said Lee

May went upstairs and found the soda that Ed had left for her. When she saw the note that Ed had left for her, she couldn't help but feel on-top-of-the-world, even though she forgot Ed is "taken", so to say. However, the moment that she opened the bottle of soda, the soda threw it's fizz everywhere, making a really big mess in the room. May was initially confused, but she quickly realized that she was actually pranked with the soda, making her cry.

Marie heard the noise and went upstairs to see what made that random sound, and was surprised to see the mess that was made due to the soda.

"Oh, way to go May!" yelled Marie.

However, May didn't even care about the mess, as she was broken at the fact that her crush's "gift" was just a prank.

"HE HATES ME!" May yelled insanely loudly, echoing across a 3 mile radius.

Marie was shocked that May could be THAT loud, but she was more shocked at what May said.

"May?" asked Marie.

May didn't say anything, and ran away, crying into the restroom.

"What's going on?" asked a rather confused Lee.

Surprisingly, May's crying was still audible, even in the restroom.

"What is she blabbing about now?" Lee asked.

Marie simply said, "I think she is crying about her boyfriend."

"What? Agh, idiot. Yo May!" Lee said, slamming the door with her fist.

"LEAVE ME!" May yelled, even louder than before.

Back to the Eds Chris...

The sounds of May's yells we're loud to the point where Chris The Eds heard it, abit faintly.

"What was that guys?" Ed said, in a funny tone.

"Hmm... not sure." said Chris.

"Gentlemen, I have managed to make our food supplements, who wants it first?" said Double D.

"Oo! Me! Me! Me!" Ed said excited.

Double D had managed to successfully, along with Chris Eddy, make 8 slices of pizza, 2 for everyone respectively.

"Ed! Don't hog it all!" Eddy said, as Ed put both of his slices in his mouth.

Chris chuckled a bit, as Ed's eating, in his mind, was rather preposterous in a funny way.

"Give is our slices sock head! We're starving here!" yelled Eddy.

"Manners Eddy, you should learn them." responded Double D

"Quit arguing you two, I need some rest. Ugh." said Chris, rather weakly.

"I can agree with that statement." responded Double D.

Once the boys had finished their pizza slices, they all feel asleep minus Double D, who had somehow hid Marie's diary in his beanie, and sneaked into Chris's bathroom, and tried to figure out what he could do, as he was scared of what Marie would do to him if she caught him with it. Although, returning it would be much harder than he thinks, as he wouldn't be sure if any of the others would help him.

Back to the Kankers...

May was still crying, but the other sisters found the gifts that the boys had left them, and were sort of stunned.

"Yuck! What the heck?" Marie said, opening one of Double D's gifts.

Needless to say, Double D had just made boxes full of rather very smelly garbage, as he didn't want to offend Marie, in fear of what she could do to him.

Lee found several of the poems Eddy had wrote, and unlike Double D, he had gone over-the-top with his acrimony for Lee.

"That man thinks he's so smart, HUH!?" Lee said, tearing up one of the poems.

"Lee! What did your man give you?" Marie said.

"Stupid poems. We should perhaps teach them a lesson of manners, along with that Chris guy, I know he's also behind this." said Lee.

However, May had left the trailer and slammed the door really hard to the point the trailer vibrated.

This doesn't sound good...


	10. Chapter 10: Looking For Today

Chapter 10: Looking For Today

It is now 9 AM in the morning, and Chris woke up to make his coffee to wake him up from a rather very late night's sleep. Later, he went to the restroom, and found Double D asleep, much to Double D's embarrassment.

"What the?" Chris said, quietly.

Before Chris spoke up to wake Double D up, he noticed that he was holding some notebook, that had bits of punk-like stickers, which raised Chris's eyebrow. He got closer to Double D, and then he realized that he had Marie's diary.

However, Double D woke up, and jumped when he saw Chris.

"Chris! I apologize wholeheartedly!"

Chris then looked at Double D with a raised eyebrow.

"Ahem." said Chris.

Double D stood confused.

"Look there."

Double D realized that Chris found out about Marie's diary, and that he had it.

"Let me guess, apple doesn't fall far from the tree, huh?" responded Chris.

Double D was sweating billets, as he wasn't prepared to explain himself.

"Umm... it's just a misunderstanding!" said a panicked Double D.

"How did you get it?" said Chris.

Double D explains, "When you three were realizing that the Kankers were nearby, I unfortunately found this all in the mist of our escape. However, I believe it is our duty and responsibility to return it to... Ma-Marie."

Chris's eyes widened, and then he said, "No, no, and NO!"

"Come now Chris! We've already done something disgusting loathsome by doing your little stunt!" said Double D.

"Yeah, lemme just tie you up and then put a sticker saying 'for Marie Kanker'." Chris said.

Double D didn't say anything.

"Look, you take care of it for now. I've got one idea to cover it." Chris said.

Chris ran to his room and got a fake cover for a notebook, and place it on top of the actual cover to hide the fact that it was Marie's diary.

"Now, hide it for now. I'll try to figure out a plan to get it back to her later." said Chris.

"Might we join Ed and Eddy in the living room?" responded Double D.

"Yeah." said Chris.

And so, the boys went to Ed and Eddy, who were actually already up, playing some games.

"Where were you?" asked a confused Eddy.

"I found a little someone who fell asleep in my bathroom." Chris said, jokingly.

The boys minus Double D laughed.

"Ha ha ha, very funny." said Double D.

"Relax Double D, you'll live like you have all the other times!" said Eddy.

"It's as if though it is fifth reason." Ed said.

"That reminds me, Chris, what made you move to our delightful cul-de-sac?"

"Well, my friend, I guess it is time for a story in a story" said Chris.

All 4 boys sat down, the Eds awaiting Chris's story as to why he moved to the cul-de-sac.

"So, there was a newspaper that mentioned many places that had houses for sale, news about different places, and the cul-de-sac had news about how it was destroyed. I saw the cul-de-sac before the attack, and after, they provided pictures so yeah."

"Ah yes, I sadly admit that the cul-de-sac was destroyed for a rather preposterous reason." said Double D.

"You actually know why?" asked Chris.

"It was the Kankers trying to find their ship-in-a-bottle, apparently." responded Double D.

"The worst part of it was lumpy here had stolen it while he was sleepwalking, drawing the Kankers to us!" blurred Eddy.

"Ah good times, the fourth season was..." said Ed, in a relaxed tone.

Chris chuckled before continuing, saying, "Anyways, I found that one house, which is this one, and because my parents had planned to move anyways, we decided that this house would be the best place to do so."

"What about school? After all, you can't be older than us, no?" asked Double D.

"Taken care of. We actually only have a week before it starts, but yeah." responded Chris.

"Of course, Mr Einstein here has to ask about stupid school!" Eddy yelled out.

"School is most certainly not lacking in intelligence, Eddy." Double D responded to Eddy.

"Relax, besides we're gonna have the same classes most likely; as we are in the same grade anyways." Chris said.

"Oh! I have a question Chris!" Ed yelled out.

"Yeah?"

"Were there evil aliens in your place?" Ed asked.

Chris laughed before he said, "No Ed, my old place did not have those."

"Aw..." Ed said.

"But yeah, I hope this school is better than the one I used to go to." said Chris.

"What was wrong with the school, if you don't mind my asking?" asked Double D.

"It's fine, don't worry." Chris said.

Chris sighed before he explained why he decided to leave his old school.

"Well, honestly? I got a lot of pressure from teacher to just go in routes that THEY took, but I never felt like I could say anything. It just didn't feel like I had a choice in what I wanted to do and well, I got sick of it. The school here, I've talked to some of our fellow teachers, and they understand me better than anyone did at the old school." said Chris.

"My goodness," said Double D. "I'm sure you'll have a better time here, it certainly seems a huge weight was lifted."

"Where is it Double D?" asked Ed.

"Shut up Ed." responded Eddy.

"Anyways," continued Chris, "I honestly didn't have a huge connection with anyone there, so I wasn't losing a whole lot when leaving."

"Well, I hope you will be free of most drama here, as the only drama here is just the Kankers." said Double D.

"It will mostly depend on time really. But maybe they'll change, who knows." said Chris.

"That's never gonna happen! What would make them change?!" yelled Eddy.

"Who knows..." said Chris.

Speaking of the Kankers...

May has practically been dead silent since last night, still refusing to leave the room ever since she got pranked

Marie was both angry somewhat upset, as although Double D had both, "cheated", on her left her fake gifts, she couldn't help but wonder why he did everything that he did. Did he actually hate her? Was she never someone he would've liked?

Meanwhile, Lee was just flat out angry at Eddy, but she had an idea to get payback. Yet again.

"What are we gonna about this?" asked Marie.

"First, we need to do something about that Chris guy." said Lee.

"But what exactly?" asked Marie.

"Let's try something that will surely get his attention, I know what will." said Lee.

Marie wasn't sure of what Lee meant, as Chris was seemingly aware of anything around him. But she didn't really say anything, as she was sort of thinking about Double D, and what he truly thought about her.

"Marie! Are you even listening?!" yelled Lee loudly.

Marie was somehow thinking so much that she forgot about Lee's original plan.

"MARIE!" yelled Lee, five times louder.

"What! Geez..." responded Marie.

"Listen here, we will capture the Eds from their houses, and Chris will have to get them and try to save them, get that?" said Lee.

"Yeah, sure." said a rather reluctant Marie.

Although Marie had slight prejudice towards Chris, she highly doubted this would even help their issue. But she didn't really want to go against Lee, as Lee always held a rather hard leadership habit, and kinda ignoring her May.

"Should we get May?" asked Marie.

"Nah." said Lee. "She's useless for now. I got a separate idea to get her spirits up, but we gotta something about that Chris guy, as he is gonna cause problems." said Lee, as she chuckled.

This is gonna be conflicting...


	11. Chapter 11: In The Eye Of The Beholder

Chapter 11: In The Eye Of The Beholder

It's now 7:30 PM, and the four boys were all in their homes, with different reactions to the stunt they all pulled yesterday.

Chris was both relaxed and concerned, as...

"Dude, that's a heavy contradiction. Pick words that aren't opposites, come on now." said Chris.

Uh... yeah. Let's say that although he thinks the stunt sent a message to the sisters, he was now thinking about what the aftermath could be.

Eddy was simply celebrating by blasting some tunes as, some, he thought his issues with Lee were over, thanks to the, "artistic" poems he had written for her.

Ed... was just watching monster movies. He wasn't really thinking about the stunt like his friends.

Double D was another story though, as he couldn't even believe that he had done something like that, not only to a person, but to Marie Kanker, of all possible people. He couldn't help but worry about what could happen to him.

However, none of them were ready for what the Kankers planned...

7:45 PM

"Yo! Hurry it up!" whispered Lee, loudly.

Marie moved towards a bush where Lee was hiding in, unfortunately May refused to join them, so Marie, in a way, was kinda alone with this idea that Lee had.

"I'll get Eddy and Ed, you get Double D, got it?" said Lee.

Marie didn't say anything, but just nodded her head as to say yes.

And so, they went to get the Eds, but Marie eventually decided to against Lee's idea, so decided to do something instead of kidnapping Double D for whatever ploy Lee had in mind.

Marie went to Double D's house extremely reluctantly, as she had doubted that he would even want to listen to anything she wanted to say.

She hits the bell.

"One second please!" yelled Double D from inside his house.

He opens the door, and says, "Hello, how many I help-"

Double D couldn't believe who he saw.

"...hi." said Marie weakly.

Double D could not really say anything, but just cursing himself in his head, for pulling that stunt.

"Can we talk?" asked a shy Marie.

"Okay, s-ss-sure." responded Double D.

Double D relaxed a bit, as he expected her to be extremely mad at him, but she is rather more melancholy.

"What's going on?" asked a rather nervous curious Double D.

Marie simply only stared didn't say anything. Double D decided to offer something.

"Do you want a drink?" said a very awkward Double D

"...yeah." responded Marie.

Double D simply got her a bottle of water, as he wasn't really sure as to what else to bring. He proceeded to sit next to her, although reluctant to do so.

"So, is there a reason why you are here?" asked Double D, who was progessively becoming less anxious.

"Look," Marie said, finally able to speak, "...sorry."

Double D didn't hear her, as she spoke rather quietly.

"Excuse me, but can you-" Double D got cut off by Marie who shouted,

"I'M SORRY!"

Double D got a little scared and jumped, but he quickly focused back to Marie, who was crying to practically no avail.

"Marie?"

Double D, although still sorta scared of Marie, decided to hug her, in an attempt to cool her down, if only a little bit.

"Are you okay? This is quite unusual..." asked Double D.

Marie didn't respond again. At this point, Double D remembered two things. One, he had remembered that he still had Marie's diary from the stunt he and his friends did. Second, Marie most likely thinks Double D is in a relationship, from that one day, even though that was a lie made by Chris. Double D decided to admit the truth to Marie, although this could backfire very badly.

"Marie, I have to personally share something with you." said Double D.

"...yeah?" Marie said.

Double D decided to admit himself, saying, "Remember that day where me, Eddy, Ed dressed up for, so to say, dates? Well, that was something that Eddy and Chris had the idea for getting rid of you your sisters."

Marie stopped being sad and was mixed. First of all, she wanted to beat both Chris and Eddy up for pulling that stunt on her, especially because of how much May is by the stunt. Second, she couldn't help but be curious as to why Double D admitted this to her.

"Are you for real?" asked Marie.

"I'm not making any part of that up." said Double D

"If only you say May right now..." responded Marie.

Double D got curious. "Why, may I ask?"

"She's extremely hurt by that, and that stunt, that I assume Chris did the other night?" Marie asked, in a serious tone.

"He planned the whole thing, but Ed, Eddy and I made our own little, umm... gifts, as he put it." responded Double D.

"Chris is clever, but I would seriously beat him Eddy up to teach them a lesson..." Marie said, growling slightly.

"My word!"

"What?" asked Marie.

"I agree Chris and Eddy need to learn their lesson, but VIOLENCE!?!?" responded Double D.

"Okay, what do you propose then?" asked Marie.

"Has everyone forgotten about having civil conversations? I suggest we first speak to Chris convince him to plan a way to help May out." said Double D.

"Fine... let's try it at least." said a slightly reluctant Marie.

"Shall we go now?" asked Double D.

"Sure. Oh yeah, Double D?" said Marie.

"Yes?"

"Thanks for being honest." Marie said, before kissing Double D on the cheek really quick.

Although he was used to disliking Marie when she did that stuff, surprisingly he didn't mind it this time. He couldn't help but wonder why this was the case. Regardless, they went to talk to Chris in order to figure out a plan to help May out.

This is extremely unexpected...


	12. Chapter 12: And Justice For All

Chapter 12: ...And Justice For All

And so, Double D and Marie, surprisingly, together went to Chris's house, to try and convince him to help out in getting May to feel better. However, both of them knew that doing this was most likely going to be easier said than done, as Chris's reaction to what occurred was unpredictable.

Once they arrive to his house...

"Let me try to talk to him first, okay?" said Double D.

Marie nodded as to say yes. Then. Double D hits the doorbell.

"One second yo!" yelled Chris from the inside of the home.

He then opens the door.

"Hey Double D, what's going on?"

"Greetings Chris... um... do you have a minute to talk to someone?" said a nervous Double D.

"Sure. But who exactly...?" asked a curious Chris.

Marie then steps out says, reluctantly, "...Hi."

Chris, shocked, says, "Double D... what did you do?"

"Chris, you have to listen to Marie at least this once!" said Double D.

"No! What has she done this time!?" Chris said, furiously.

"Chris, please!" said Double D.

Chris couldn't believe what he was witnessing. At first, he wanted to start attacking or cussing at Marie the moment he saw her. But...

"Okay, because I like to give chance to people, I'll listen..." said Chris, in a low, rough voice.

Marie was still silent, as she was sorta hurt by how negatively Chris seemed to to think of her, but at the same time, her actions spoke for themselves.

"Are you gonna come in?" asked Chris.

"...sure." responded Marie.

Once they all enter Chris's house, Double D says,

"Chris, I must say thank you for your kind gesture to Marie!"

"Yeah, yeah..." responded Chris, who was obviously annoyed.

They all sat down, until Chris realizes that he had left his speaking playing an album called Shout At The Devil.

"Okay, nevermind that..." said Chris.

"Shout At The Devil, huh?" said Marie.

"Yeah. You like the song or album?" asked a curious Chris.

"I like both, and the band too."

Chris was shocked to see Marie like music like that, as he thought her whole punk look was more for show than anything else.

"So anyways, what's going on...?" asked Chris.

"May's all upset thanks to you!" Marie said.

Chris, not understanding fully, said, "...what?"

"Your little prank on May made her upset, and I want you to fix it!" yelled Marie.

Although her attitude was not exactly very smart for a conversation, Chris wanted to know more.

"Hmm... I want to believe this... but one issue."

"What?" said Marie.

"I wanna believe you, but I'm not sure if you're lying to us in order to trap us into something. Am I wrong for-"

Chris almost said his sentence, until Marie got really, really angry and said, insanely loudly,

"DO YOU EVEN CARE ABOUT ANYONE'S FEELINGS!?!?!?!"

The scream echoed across the Cul-De-Sac by a 2 or so mile radius, to the point where even May got sorta jumpscared. Somehow, May actually recognized the voice of Marie, and got up from bed and said,

"Marie?"

May decided, surprisingly, to get up, and find the source of where Marie's voice came from.

Back at Chris's house...

"Uh..." said Chris, who didn't know what to say.

Chris was now fighting between two sides of himself. One was saying, this is clearly a stunt, this is just a prank, and that isn't serious. But, the thing is, why wouldn't they just take the boys normally? Plus, this generally isn't something you do if you were lying, as, in his mind, it's rather insensitive.

However, he came to a decision.

He sighed before saying, "How can I help?"

Marie's eye was just red-ish, and a tear or two came down, but once she saw his willingness to help, she calmed down, and was glad to see his change of mind.

"Wow," she began to speak, "I'm surprised you changed your mind"

"I'm quite glad you had a change of mind heart Chris!" said Double D.

"Yeah, I can tell you guys are happy, ahahaha. Anyways, what do you want me to do Marie?" Chris asked.

"Look, I don't think Ed will be wanting to do this, but ask me? He should try to explain that it was someone else that did your stunts." said Marie.

Chris facepalmed before saying, "Isn't it easier if I go and admit that the prank was my idea? Or pranks."

Marie realized that he was right, although she then said, "...what about Ed? He's important to this..."

Chris chuckled a bit, before saying, "Trust me."

Marie sheepishly grinned, slowly but surely beginning to trust him.

"Double D, any thoughts?" asked Chris.

Although Double D had encouraged Chris Marie to come with up a plan, he wasn't sure, like Marie said, if Ed would even be willing to help out, as Ed May having a conversation would be insanely rare.

"...maybe we should get Ed's opinion on the matter to start?" said Double D.

"I can agree to that. Come on, let's go start this plan." said Chris.

Meanwhile, with May...

"Where is Marie...?" May said.

May was pretty much just now reaching the houses, and was getting close to where Marie yelled out.

But then, she sees something that will be hard to believe, especially for her.

Well, let's hope this goes well... right? Right?!


	13. Chapter 13: Bark At The Moon

Chapter 13: Bark At The Moon

"Marie?" said May, quietly.

May saw that Marie was going to Ed's house, but with Chris and Double D. May wanted to figure out why Marie was with them, but she didn't want to provoke them, especially Chris. May decides to sneak in different bushes to see what's going on.

However, what is Lee doing...?

Well, Lee is in Eddy's backyard, getting ready to kidnap Eddy to bait Chris into a trap.

However, Lee got unlucky. Why?

Eddy isn't actually home, as he decided a while ago to go to Ed's house to play some games. So... Eddy, unintentionally, saved himself from getting kidnapped.

"Hmph. Shrimp got lucky. Maybe he's at Double D's house..." Lee said to herself.

Talk about Double unlucky, AND lucky aswell!

Back to Chris, Double D, Marie...

The three of them camp up to Ed's door, and hit the bell. While waiting, Chris says...

"This is just crazy..."

Marie, curious, says, "What do you mean?"

"Well, what seemed like seconds ago, you were someone that I hated. Now? Here we are, trying to help someone close to you." said Chris.

"So, do you trust me?" Marie asked, reluctantly.

"That'll depend on what happens. Plus... I know what you've done with the Eds. And your sisters too."

Marie didn't know what to say other than, "...like what?"

"Well... the time that you trapped them in a wall, the time that you your sisters forced them to marry you three, the time that you and Lee kidnapped Ed for May for some reason, the time..."

Essentially, Chris brought up various fights, or generally any conflict between the Eds the Kankers. Double D felt embarrassed, but Marie felt guilty at the end of the day.

"...you get the point."

"Chris, while I can certainly see your point of how Marie has done rather raunchy things in the past, don't you think we can move past them, or at least try to?" said Double D.

Chris, although agreeing with Double D, was kinda reluctant to the idea, as knowing their history, he would have to take time to used to even considering Marie her sisters friends even.

"...you got a point, but give me time to adjust, alright?" responded Chris.

He turns to Marie and says, "I guess we can at least be cool with each other. Agree?"

"Sure." She responds.

"Alright, let's start this."

Chris came into Ed's house and didn't see him anywhere.

"Huh... where is he?"

"Perhaps he is downstairs? Ed always stays there." Said Double D.

"Let's check. Also, Marie, stay back for a bit, as I doubt Ed will listen if he sees you and starts freaking the heck out. No offense."

"Fine." Marie said.

"Double D, I'll take care of Ed. You and Marie just stay here."

"Can do." Double D responds.

Chris went downstairs, and opened the door to Ed's room, then went inside and Ed greets him, saying,

"Oh, hello there Chris!" said Ed.

"Hey Ed." said Chris.

"Chris! What's up? Me and Ed are just here playing some games, not sure what sockhead's doing." said Eddy.

Chris was surprised to find Eddy, and he already knew that the plan to help out May wouldn't exactly go as he planned.

"Howdy Eddy." said Chris, before he inhaled and said,

"Ed, I have to talk to you. Can you talk real quick?"

"Okie-Dokie! Eddy, keep an eye out for the aliens!" Ed yelled out.

And so, right outside Ed's door, Chris began talking to Ed.

"Hey, I need you to well... help me with something." Chris said, not 100% certain at all as to how to reveal his idea to Ed.

"Do tell more!" responded Ed.

Chris decided to not drag on and just said,

"Ed, it's about May. She's not... um... very happy."

Ed just said, "May? Sad?"

Chris then said, "Yeah, she's really upset because of the stunt."

Ed yells out, "I'M TOO YOUNG TO FALL IN LOVE! WE MUST RUN BEFORE-"

Chris our buttered toast in front of Ed to calm him down.

"Ugh. That always works... Okay. Ed, this isn't a music video from 1983 dude! All I plan to do is have you make May happy. That's it. Heck, you don't even have to be friends, Just be normal. Okay?"

Ed, still appeared reluctant, as he didn't trust May having feelings that weren't your average obsession. Then again, Ed has never seen that happen ever.

"May, I hope you thank me good lord..." Chris said in his mind, before saying, "Ed, if you do this, I'll give you a double gravy filled buttered toast sandwich. Deal?"

"Okay." said Ed.

"Remember this, if anything goes wrong, trust that I will handle it." Chris said, trying to make sure Ed wasn't scared.

But then, Eddy comes out and says,

"Boys! Where ya going?"

"Ah crap." said Chris.

"Naughty language mister!" said Ed.

"Let's go get sock head or something. Because I'm guessing you've got a plan for something, right Chris?" suggested Eddy.

Chris was lost of what to do because he severely doubted Eddy would've agreed to the plan. However, Eddy would certainly catch on sooner or later.

"Well, why don't I explain in the living room?"

And so, they went to the living room.

However, Chris forgot about that both Double D Marie we're in the living room, talking about things, and seemingly getting along. Not romantically at all, but as friends. After all, it's not like they just sat there, not saying anything to each other.

"Uh..." said Double D.

"Oh for gods sake!" said Chris.

"Double D! That's a Kanker you're falling over for!" yelled an angry Eddy.

"Eddy, please! Have some manners!" said Double D.

"Geez shorty, you're still calling me by my last name?" said Marie.

"Zip it! Get out of here!" yelled Eddy.

"Excuse me! Eddy, do you have any manners?" said Double D

"A Kanker doesn't deserve-"

"THAT'S ENOUGH! ALL OF YOU SHUT UP! NOW!" yelled Chris INSANELY loudly...

They all went silent.

"... are we done?" said Chris.

"I am so confused..." Ed, randomly said.

"Chris! Are you nuts!" said Eddy in protest.

"Eddy, do me a favor and-

"What is miss 'blue-haired devil' even doing here?! She doesn't deserve to be here!" Eddy said, cutting Chris off.

"Eddy, stop." said a concerned Chris.

"Where's double-tooth and the red-haired skank at! I know that you brought them here Marie!" Eddy said, obviously referring to Marie's sisters.

Chris, look at Marie.

"Why?"

Look.

"Uh..."

Marie was very noticeably angry, and looked as though she wanted to kill Eddy. Yes, kill. Oh no...

"Eddy, that's enough! Seriously, stop!" Chris, worried, said.

"Double D! Get away from her, you'll contract Kanker love like that one Valentine's Day! And it'll be worse!"

"YOU LITTLE RAT!" Marie yelled, before charging at Eddy and attacking him, beating him up.

"Oh no... Marie! Stop!" yelled Chris.

Chris tried to get Marie off of Eddy and stop, but this resulted in failure, as Chris was kicked to a wall by Marie, essentially resulting in him slamming into the wall, very hard.

"Ow... ah crap..." thought Chris.

Marie, after a lot of punches and kicks, grabbed a table, and slammed it insanely hard on Eddy, and at that point decided to leave, running away from Ed's house. How she was feeling is not exactly hard to guess. Right?

"Holy crap... that ended so poorly. Eddy?" said Chris.

"OH MY LORD!" yelled Double D.

Eddy was severely hurt, and two of his teeth were knocked out. At that moment, it seemed as though he fought a wrestler on stage or something, not a blue-haired girl that got insanely angry to no avail. Although Chris kinda felt bad, let's be honest, he and everyone else saw that coming.

"ED! WHAT'S ALL THAT RACKET!" yelled a voice.

"What the? Who's that?" asked Chris.

"That's my baby sister, Sarah." Ed said.

"This might not end well..."

"Jeepers! What occurred here?" said a different voice.

"It's a long story." responded Chris.

"Who the heck is that?" asked Sarah.

"That must be the new kid I told you about! Remember, he's the new one in the cul-de-sac I told you about Sarah!" responded the other voice.

"Hello there, my name is Chris." Chris responded to the two.

"Hi there, name's Jimmy."

Sarah was the mess that occurred, thanks to Marie's burst of rage at Eddy.

"Alright, who did this mess!?" yelled Sarah.

"Well..."

Chris began to explain how a conversation between the Eds and Marie was supposed to happen, but because Eddy wouldn't stop insulting Marie to no end, she just attacked him relentlessly and left.

"Ha! Short mouth got what he deserved!" said Sarah.

"Well guys, I'm not sure what to do really. Also, notice the time?"

"9 PM. Oh dear... fellas! We must get to sleep!" yelled Double D.

"And for tomorrow?"

"NO WAY! Argh, We're going nowhere near those animals!" yelled Eddy, still in protest unsurprisingly.

"Maybe, just maybe, if you would've relaxed for a second, it would've gone differently, and you wouldn't be hurt right now Eddy." responded Double D.

"Those Kankers never, 'talk', are you nuts!?" Eddy blurted.

Chris, at that point, was simply too tired to be bothered with this, and just said,

"Let's just continue tomorrow maybe. My god, you are impossible to work with."

And so, all of the boys simply went and returned to their homes (minus Ed, who was obviously already home) and just adjusted themselves to bed, or did something else before sleeping.

But what about the Kankers? Oh boy... well...

Marie... honestly, isn't this kinda obvious?

May is another story however. Although she saw most, if not all of what occurred, she wasn't sure WHY, or better yet, HOW her sister was talking to Double D and/or Chris. She had no idea what was going on at all, and decided to go home and perhaps talk to Marie about what exactly occurred.

But May probably won't exactly be able to ask. Especially with Marie's anger right now.

As for Lee, her plan completely went downhill, and resulted in failure, as the boys basically moved moved from different places, to the point where she just considered quitting, calling the plan a huge waste of time at that point, as it was getting too confusing for her. Also, oh boy, she is just "slightly" mad at Marie, as Marie basically abandoned the whole plan. She could imagine Marie probably letting her "feelings" for Double D slip. Which sounds very wrong when put that way

As for everyone else...

Everyone simply went to sleep.

Wait a minute... oh boy...

"MARIE!" yelled Lee in her trailer.

"What?!" snapped Marie.

"Where were you?" said a serious Lee.

"None of your business!" said an obviously irritated Marie.

"Marie, if you think-"

Marie just punched Lee in the mouth, before just pushing her away to shut her up, and went to sleep upstairs.

May, who saw that all go down, decided to maybe wait till tomorrow to ask. As asking when Marie is like that is unlikely to be a smart idea.

This "Get This" attitude could become an issue...


	14. Chapter 14: Where Eagles Dare

Chapter 14: Where Eagles Dare

It's now the next day, and oh goodness, things couldn't be more messy than they are.

Double D was thinking about last night, and although he had sorta tried to get normal with Marie, he couldn't help but wonder if there's a bigger picture to what's happening to Marie that makes her that way that she is. Of course, beating up Eddy, although wrong in Double D's mind, is more understandable. But, the thing that got him thinking was more of how he had never seen Marie act in a way that wasn't her chasing him for 50 trillion miles, or giving him the most lustful affection in existence. That's greatly exaggerated, but to Double D, that is how it felt all the time. But still, Marie to Double D, was a mystery he wanted to understand a bit more of possible.

"Hmm..." he thought to himself, while getting generally prepared to begin his day.

However, a bell basically dings in Double D's head loudly, as he remembered something very important. He had still left Marie's diary at Chris's house and had forgotten during the whole operation yesterday to return it. Double D sprinted to Chris's house in what seems like less than half a microsecond, and hit his doorbell.

"I'm coming! Wait up!" Chris said, inside of his house.

"Oh hey Double D, what's going on?"

"Chris! We have to get Marie her diary back, this instant!"

Chris was not exactly expecting Double D to be speeding at 900 miles per hour into his home, and explaining things at a pace beyond his comprehension.

"Hey dude! Slow the heck down!"

"Chris! If we don't give-"

Double D's random mumbojumbo of information was cut off by Chris, who said,

"JUST SHUT IT! First off, SLOW DOWN. I can't stand it when someone spits out information in a manner that is nearly impossible to understand normally! Second of all, did you forget what occurred yesterday? We have no idea if Marie's still angry!"

"But Chris! We have to return the diary now!"

"Dude, think! If she went all 'Get This' on Eddy for just insulting her, which I'll say right now was really dumb on Eddy's part, HOW DO YOU THINK SHE IS GONNA REACT TO HER DIARY BEING IN MY HANDS OR YOURS!? Do you truly think that she well just be like,"

Chris changes his voice to sound like Marie, before saying,

"Thank you so much sweetie! Let me just love you forever and ever!"

Chris returns to his normal voice before continuing,

"And then proceeds to give you kisses, hugs, and that other stupid stuff!? No! We are not going to do that. Not right now."

"Chris! You cannot seriously think that I'm going to stand here and let Marie's diary not be in her rightful hands! We must do this, NOW!"

Chris, at that point, basically admits defeat and decides to try to think of a plan to return the diary back to Marie. Although, he first had to get Double D to keep quiet for a second in order to think of a basis for a plan.

"SHUT IT! Dude, just shut up, and let me think! Golly..."

Chris thinks for a bit, inhales and then says,

"Okay, because you and I are clearly the only ones capable of doing this, as, well, Ed doesn't fully understand what in the world we are trying to do, and honestly I kinda owe him something in the end. Eddy, okay, let's not even think about him, good lord, his mouth doesn't seem to know when to stop throwing gasoline to the fire, and he's not gonna want to do this anyway. So, since it's just the two of us, I'm going to return the diary, but you're gonna bring Marie out of the trailer, and bring her to your house, and you can just talk to her about 700 million different topics you wanna do. Got it?"

Double D responded to Chris saying, "I appreciate your approach Chris, but my question is how will this be done exactly?"

"Just a second."

Chris ran upstairs and got two earpieces for him and Double D to use.

"Here. These are earpieces. Once you get Marie, I'm gonna talk to you through here, as phones are obviously not gonna work, and neither of us are telepathic. Right? Anyways, I'm gonna talk to you through here okay? BUT! Here's the thing, NEVER respond to me when you are near Marie, as she is gonna catch you very quickly and question what on earth is going on. And you are lucky to be alive after that. So yeah, say you're with Marie, and I say something, I'm not gonna know for obvious reasons, but if you are near Marie, DO NOT SAY ANYTHING responding to me, got that?"

Chris then went outside to test the earpieces, in order to make sure the earpieces didn't run into issues. As an issue with them would be the end of this plan.

"Hey, you hear me?" said Chris through the earpiece.

"Loud and clear, Chris." responded Double D.

"Perfect!" said Chris.

Chris came back from outside and back into the living room, and said,

"It seems as though we are now prepared to do this!"

Double D, however, didn't exactly feel 100% prepared for what was going to happen, as he had a question that was important to the plan, which he ends up asking Chris.

"Chris, can we stop for a moment?"

"Oh? What's up?"

"Am I supposed to automatically know what to talk about with Marie? Suggestions?"

Chris responded with, "Just use anything you have in your mind. After all, I can tell Marie is _really_ into you." He laughs a bit before continuing, "But seriously though, it's mostly up to you, just avoid any romance stuff, and you should be 100% fine."

Double D got curious as to why Chris was specific about the whole romance thing. "May I ask why?"

"Double D, if you know the difference between obsession and compassion, this should be something easy to understand. Marie is the former. Look, I won't say she is always gonna be like that, but for now? Don't give her any ideas, stay safe. Okay?"

Double D understood his point, but he couldn't help but feel like Chris was being unnecessarily harsh on Marie. But he says,

"Chris, I can assure you that I'll try to avoid any romantic advances."

Then again, Double D, although he thought Marie was pretty cute... hang on a moment! Cute!? Why was he thinking that? It might just be that he never exactly took the time to consider the outside, but even Double D himself didn't understand this. Because, NOT ONCE, has Double D even considered the way Marie dresses or anything like that. Clearly, he would have to try and understand this a bit better. Anyways, the boys decided to just start this plan, although this is very difficult thing to get perfect, as they both would admit.

2:00 PM

Double D went to the trailer, and Chris followed him too, but Double D had to go alone to the front door, as, well... Chris being there is gonna raise questions to what's going on. Chris told Double D before he approached the door,

"Alright dude, it's time for you to go and do your part. Get Marie and take her to your house. ONLY MARIE, okay? We do not need the other sisters knowing of this. Let's hope they don't..."

Double D then went to the door, and knocked on it in order to hopefully get Marie's attention, who was inside. Double D might just be the luckiest guy on the planet, as Marie is the one who ends up answering the door. Double D was nervous, but Marie was shocked, seeing as she was not even expecting him to show up. At All.

"Double D?" said Marie, confused.

"Greetings Marie, I wanted to ask you if it's okay with you if you were to... c-come with me to talk about a thing or two!" Double D asked in an obvious sheepish tone.

Add to the luck jar, as good thing for Double D, Marie was not in her "Get This" attitude from yesterday, so he wasn't at a high risk of a beat up. Heck, he might be in store for something else entirely. Anyways, Marie makes an odd smile at him and says, in a rather calmer tone than normal,

"Sure, why not? Let's go."

Double D was shocked at the fact of how Marie didn't even seem to care about what was going on, or didn't even raise an eyebrow at him. Double D realizes that this might be because she probably trusts him, but why? Aside from that, he now has his part to do.

"Did you get her? Great! Now, go to your house and start having a conversation that lasts long enough to give me time in order to return the diary. Oh, and remember, NO ROMANCE. Oh yeah, don't respond to me, you'll eat yourself out. I'll get to work now, so you go on ahead to your home." Chris said through the earpiece.

When Double D Marie arrive...

Double D and Marie go into Double D's living room, and they both sit down.

"So... Marie, I have to ask..." said Double D.

"Yes...?" Marie says, again, with a weird smile,

"Are you doing alright from yesterday?"

Marie's face, strangely, turned to a normal expression, as she then proceeded to say,

"Yeah. I'm doing just fine. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I just wanted to ensure that Eddy's insults didn't leave a bad expression on you, as I felt as though Eddy unintentionally painted me and Chris in a negative light. So, it's as... s-simple as that." Double D said nervously.

Marie moves in closer (not THAT close though) to Edd's face and says in a calm tone,

"Well, you're seemingly caring, hmm...?"

Double D was almost going to respond, until Chris, seemingly out of nowhere, spoke into the earpiece and said,

"About to start this whole, 'return the diary', thing. And Double D, you better not be flirting with Marie! Remember what I said, you dingus. Oh yeah, and remember aswell, DON'T RESPOND TO WHAT I SAY THROUGH THIS! This should be beyond obvious. I'll catch up with ya later."

Double D's mind was busy dealing with 2 people at the same time. Marie, who again, while he catches himself "liking" her a bit, he still sorta has his doubts. But then again, he has seen like, 3 sides or so that he has never seen in her nearly 2 years or so of knowing her. And then there was Chris, who, again, Double D was wondering why in the planet he was being harsh on the idea of him and Marie being "together", per se. While, once again, Double D understood Chris's doubts to an extent, maybe Double D thought in his mind, that he can prove these doubts wrong. Maybe.

Even then, Double D had to respond to Marie's little question she said earlier, and so...

"Yeah... I suppose you might be on the right side."

Marie got curious as to why Double D brought her to his house, as... she didn't fully believe that him being concerned was 100% the reason as to why he all around invited her to his house.

"So, why exactly did you bring me? Not that I mind of course." A curious Marie said.

Double D, at that point, decided that, maybe he could get one of his questions about Marie answered. That is, if she doesn't revert to "Lovey" or "Angry" Marie. But, Double D still proceeded to say,

"Marie, I would like to ask something, as I've been curious, why have you... changed the main way you express things... so to say.

Marie thought about how to explain herself, and in the end she decides to say,

"Well... I wasn't really enjoying the whole 'chase you around' thing as much as I used to. I mean, yeah, kissing you was fun, but it got less... 'fun' as I thought about it. But then, you and Chris's schemes came up, and I thought... you simply didn't like me at all. At least you cleared that up."

Double D couldn't even believe that Marie actually started to like her chasing around act less. But then he asks,

"Why couldn't you have said this sooner?"

"Eddward! Think about it silly, you, a nerdy type, going with someone who you clearly didn't exactly like? Sounds logical, right?" said Marie, in a playful tone.

Double D understood her point, but then he says, "Well... that's understandable enough. Marie, when you consider however, everything that has occurred between not just me and you, but between say, Ed and May, and Eddy and Lee... it's kinda ludicrous to think of either of us together. No offense meant there, but do you see what I mean? Of course, I am always willing to let go of grudges, and make amends, but your sisters generally aren't really known for that."

Marie kinda was a bit hit by what Double D, but luckily for him, not in anger inducing way. Marie instead decided to do something... oh boy... that will be hard to believe. Marie moves up to Double D's face and leans in and says, quietly and calmly,

"I'm sorry."

...and kisses Double D, but not in ridiculous rapid way, rather, slowly. At this point, Double D doesn't understand what in the world he just got himself into... but he knew at this point that... quite simply, there was 0 turning around and restarting, or anything of the sort. Instead, Double D does the unbelievable. He gives the kiss back, and essentially, this makes something that no one is going to be able to believe.

Wait... what will Chris think of this? Speaking of Chris...


	15. Chapter 15: Fabulous Disaster

Chapter 15: Fabulous Disaster

Ehh... I'm not sure if that title gives a good impression for what holds in store here...

Anyways, Chris got near the window that leads into the bedroom of the Kankers, and managed to reach up to the window. Lucky for him, it was left open by one of the sisters, so he wasn't going to run into the issue of finding a way in.

"Huh... lucky break... hmm...?" Chris said to himself.

Either way, Chris entered the room, and scanned around to see where he could put the diary.

"Agh... where in god's name do I put this...?" Chris says silently.

Chris would be smart to wait, as someone is coming up to the door, and the footsteps are very much noticeable.

"Oh no... ah! Wait!"

Chris, in a "heat of the moment", scenario, manages to slide below the bed of the sisters, hiding himself for the most part, unless say, the sister coming up looked down, which would most likely end up as a death sentence for him. But, he has a trick or two just in case. And those tricks are most likely going to be in use, as Lee comes into the room, and looks around and yells insanely loudly,

"May! What the heck is this mess near the window!"

Chris didn't check for himself very well, as he had unintentionally stuck leaves and other random debris on his shoes, leaving marks on the floor. Were they full footprints? Not quite, but you could notice pretty easily. Oh lord... this isn't going well for Chris.

"I didn't do that! Where's Marie? She's probably the cause of this crap!" yelled May to Lee.

"You know... I would find this more funny, were I not in danger here...eh?" Chris says in his mind.

"Later, I'll go get that idiot, but you better clean it for now!" Lee told May, pretty forcefully. Jeez...

Lee then proceeds to leave the room and goes to the living room to watch some TV, most likely anyways. Chris, realizing this is the perfect time to launch the diary somewhere, and he sees an opening quite wide near the closet. In an attempt to do a speedy ninja move, Chris slides the diary to the cloest really quick, but in the process, he screws up by hitting May's shoe when he launched the diary, which pretty much alerts May to what might be going on.

"Hey! Who threw that!?" May said out loud.

Chris, realizing he screwed up, HARD, quickly slides back below the bed, as... where else is he going to hide? The drawers? Either way, this is a failure, as May, looking around to see who or what threw the diary, looks below the bed, and shockingly, she sees him.

"Hey! You! Get out of there, whoever you are!" she yelled.

"Ah crap. Well, so much for the stealth..." Chris says.

Chris doesn't really have another option as to what to do, and so, he gets out from the bottom of the bed, and so May sees him, and recognizes him in an instant. She is very, VERY, angry. This can't be good...

"You..."

"What? You and I haven't exactl-"

May tries to jump Chris in order to beat him up, but Chris sees that coming and throws himself to the side, making May's move kinda useless. But this doesn't stop May in the slightest, and she tries to attack him again.

"Wait! Stop!"

May doesn't even bother listening to whatever Chris says, and she catches him and slams him into a wall, yelling in his face,

"IT'S YOUR FAULT HE HATES ME!"

Chris didn't understand what the heck she meant, but then he remembered. One, May was the reason Marie had tried to get him to help her. You know, to get May to feel better. Two, May was the one who got affected the most, maybe Marie, but May was the most prominent of the sisters who got affected. Chris clearly has some explaining to do.

"Hang on, Ed? Wait, he doesn't-"

Chris couldn't talk as May almost punched him directly in the face. Almost, as Chris stopped her fist in time, but then she tries her other hand, and the also fails. Chris pushes May away, and says,

"DUDE! Quit that! Ed doesn't hate you!"

May hears that, and stops, before saying,

"What?"

"He doesn't hate you! That's what I mean!"

May hardly believes this, unsurprisingly. So then she says,

"Then WHY did he prank me? And he is going out with someone, so tell me why he would even care?!"

Chris realized that he forgot, "the bigger picture", also known as the details. So...

"Listen! Let me explain okay? OKAY?!" Chris said with a hint of worry.

May doesn't exactly trust him fully, but she decides to let him explain. Of course, she probably won't be happy with the actual truth, but it's either that or she still believes the wrong details. Either way, they both sit down on the bed and May decides to speak first, saying,

"Are you lying?"

"No, you dount. I'm serious. Ed doesn't hate you. Besides... you actually think he hates?"

"Fair point." May says.

"Anyways, and by the by, he isn't dating anyone, like... at all."

May got confused, as Chris was the one who said, out loud, that the Eds were going out with 3 other girls.

"But weren't you the one that said-"

"That was a lie."

May did NOT like hearing that. At all.

"JUST... WHY!?"

Chris didn't say anything for a second or two, but then said,

"May, Hmm... you realize that you are not exactly out of the question for Ed, right?"

"What...?"

Chris explained further, "Look, the main thing with Ed, at least to me, is that he just has a really silly fear of girls. Now, why? I have no idea, tell ya the truth, but here is the point. Maybe, just MAYBE, if you say sorry for the things you've done, AND ACTUALLY TALK WITH HIM, he'll cool down enough to listen to you."

May responds to that by saying, "But what if he doesn't think-"

"May, stop! You're gonna waste time thinking like that. Just trust me, and we can get started on this. Got it?"

May shook her head as to say yes.

Chris then says, "Oh, yeah, sorry for all the crazy stuff that had occurred, didn't exactly realize the impact until fairly recently. Hope you're okay though."

May responds with, "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for saying sorry."

May holds her hand out for a handshake, and Chris offers back, which makes a truce between the two. Friends per se? Hmm... maybe. But one thing is for sure, they aren't exactly going to be throwing punches and kicks anytime soon. Hopefully.

"MAY! WHAT IS-"

In what seems like out of nowhere, Lee comes into the room to see what May is doing. And... she is anything that isn't a synonym for the word happy.

"May! What. Are. YOU. DOING!"

"That's not good..." Chris said.

"You! Get away from her! NOW!" Lee shouted really loudly to Chris.

Chris did so, as what else was he to do? But then he knew what he had to do next to avoid what's coming...

"I think you know what you deserve..." Lee said, in a threatening manner.

"How about no?" Chris says, before he throws a smoke bomb onto his position, in order to cover himself and escape in time. And escape he does, in fact, flat out disappearing.

"Where did..."

Lee looked for a second for Chris until she realized that, he had pretty much disappeared into thin air. She then turns to May and says,

"What did he want?"

May didn't exactly know what to say, as Lee obviously would want the full details to what she and Chris discussed.

"He just wanted Marie, for some reason." May said, trying to cover it up a bit.

Lee doesn't believe that fully, saying, "Oh yeah? Then why were you and him shaking hands then?"

"He just wanted me to! What else did you want me to do?"

"May, listen close. You won't do anything that looks like showing mercy the next time we see him. Do you understand?"

May simply says yes, and then Lee proceeds to say,

"So... Marie you say? Fine. Marie isn't here, in fact, wonder where she is... Let's go give him a visit."

Oh yeah, speaking of Marie, plus Double D...

"Wait, so you and May fell in love and actually loved each other for that time?" Marie said.

"It would appear that way, thanks to some strange magic or something of the sort. I'm not 100% certain as to the cause of my own actions or May's. It was a very strange day, as I can only recall giving May a Valentine's Day card to calm her down after she tried to do the same thing with Ed, but Ed panicked and accidentally hit her, running her over onto the floor. I do want to apologize in advance for what Ed did, but I'm sure he didn't mean to do that intentionally. Anyways, I only recall that after I gave her the card, I was doing some work for Science class, and May came over, asking me to be her partner. Ed and Eddy then caused an explosion mixing two chemicals that don't mix well together. May then proceeded to explain why it was bad, which I agree with of course. Then, next thing I end up seeing, I think I almost... oh dear... ended up kissing her." explained Double D, talking about one strange Valentine's Day.

Marie then decided to poke fun at him, and said, "So, you could give her a card and several other things, but I couldn't have anything?"

Double D blushed insanely, as Marie stared at him with a grin that got him nervous. She realizes that, and then says,

"Relax! You're so cute when you're nervous." Marie said, trying to get Double D to relax.

Double D brought up something else that he was curious about, as Marie's attempt to calm him down was... well, an attempt.

"Marie, I know you and I haven't exactly seen you and your sisters really take kindly to the fellow people of the cul-de-sac, but..."

"You want me and the others to be open?"

Double D, surprised that Marie knew what he was going to say, then says,

"Well... yeah."

"I'm not the right person to ask that sweetie."

"Why?"

"Lee. Who else..." Marie said, rolling her eye.

Double D got more curious as to what she meant.

"Marie, can you explain a bit more?"

"Oven mitt, if you really want a change, talk to Lee about that. She's the so-called, 'one-and-only" leader."

Double D almost said something, until Chris, through the earpiece, said,

"Dude! I'm done with the diary thing! But uh... Lee may or may not have seen me. Okay, yes she did. I'll explain everything soon as I get back to ya. Let's just Ed and Eddy to help us, because we might need assistance with this. This is unlikely to be done by just you and me, so get ready dude! Oh yeah, and ditch Marie, she CANNOT know about this now. AND I HOPE FOR YOUR SAKE THAT, **NO, ROMANCE **OCCURRED! You should already know why I say that.

Double D, at this point, had to respond to what Chris just said, plus, he had to start speaking sooner or later. So, he tells Marie,

"Marie, please pardon me for a moment, I must use the restroom. Will you be here for a bit?"

Marie says, "Sure.", throwing a grin at him. Double D blushes at this, but then he proceeds to go to the restroom in order to talk to Chris.

"Chris? Are you there?"

"Oh hello there dude! Marie isn't near you, correct?"

"Not to worry. Chris, please! Have more trust in Marie!"

"She's just too dangerous and unpredictable! Remember? She beat the heck out of Eddy for just insults! And you expect me or you to be safe admitting the whole diary thing? Okay, listen, I know I said I'd trust her more, I'd be more open, whatever, but right now this isn't the time."

Double D sighed before saying, "I'm gonna regret asking, but what is the plan?"

"Just allow me to prepare a bit by getting some help by Ed and Eddy, okay? Oh yeah... and May also caught me, but don't worry, she and I actually talked a bit, and luckily, she isn't that angry. Compared to Lee anyways."

Double D chuckled at Chris, as he then said, "And what occurred to Mr. Stealth?"

"Oh be quiet you dork! Not the first time I've been caught, but I do have backup tricks in case that occurs. Which is how I got out of there."

"Such as...?"

"Oh you know... smoke bombs, disappearing tricks, that kinda stuff."

Double D wondered how he could do this type of stuff, as frankly, this would be interesting to witness to him. Either way, he then asks,

"Please tell me you returned the diary..."

"Yep. I'll say that, I know the stealth part was meant to be most of the plan, but it lasted enough for the important part. Which was getting the diary back. Even if slightly messy."

"Thank goodness." responded Double D.

"I'll talk to you soon, but figure out a plan for yourself to ditch Marie."

Double D didn't exactly respond, which got Chris suspicious.

"You didn't do anything romance related, did you?"

"No, of course not!" Double D said in a flash.

"...you're lying to me, aren't you?"

Chris sighed before saying, "Just admit it, yes or no?"

Double D was basically trapped, and just admitted himself, saying, "I... yes, it's true."

"I knew that was going to happen... okay... hmm... this jeopardizes everything, but maybe you can use this to your advantage. Tell Marie maybe to go back to her trailer, and then you can join me and the others, and boom! This works out for us!"

"Chris! You couldn't possibly be thinking of manipulating Marie's emotions!"

"No I'm not! This isn't that, it's just to make her not see this crap, okay? I don't have anymore time to chat, I gotta get the others, but do that and you should be fine!"

And no more time, he does. Chris then goes offline, Double D not getting anymore responses from him. He was in a bit of a slump...

Meanwhile...

Chris arrives to Eddy's door, in order to get Eddy involved with assistance for what might be coming his way. And so, he rings the doorbell, and Eddy opens the door, saying,

"Hey Chris, how's it going?"

"Alright, you holding up ok though?"

"Yeah, Marie hits hard... surprisingly..."

"No matter. Although, right now, we need to get Ed. Something came up that... well... we need help with."

"Hang on! What's going on?"

"I'll explain everything. But... if you refuse to listen, forget I said anything. Okay?"

Well... Eddy is in for a surprise.

Is this the start of a possible war or...?

"You idiot, wars aren't between 2 to 5 people. Quit thinking that, that's stupid!" Chris says.

I only meant that as... never mind. 


	16. Chapter 16: IT’S A RAID!

_Author's note: This chapter is the longest one yet, so brace yourselves lads. There was supposed to be more in this chapter too, but I couldn't fit it in, and frankly, I figured it was better to wait for another chapter(s) to put the stuff in. This was fun to write, but man... it took a WHILE... so, I hope you all enjoy this one. :D_

Chapter 16: IT'S A RAID!

What the heck is this title even? Alright, I guess we'll roll with it, even if it's silly...

Where were we... oh yes.

Chris arrived to Eddy's house, and told Eddy that they would need help in order to get prepared for a certain something.

Eddy didn't exactly understand what he meant, so he needed to understand more.

"What the heck is going on?! Why do we need to 'prepare'?!"

Chris kinda was stuck, as he wasn't fully certain as to how to explain the events.

"Alright... get ready for a story you'll enjoy. Probably. Maybe."

Chris then proceeded to explain for around 20 minutes how when they originally did the whole stunt 2 days ago, Double D made a mistake of finding Marie's diary and taking it on accident when they had to escape. Then, the two boys ran into the issue of how the heck they were to return it. Chris mentioned the whole plan he did with Double D, where the latter would distract Marie from the trailer, and the former would then proceed to get the diary inside the trailer, somehow. Chris mentions the fact that he had a conversation with May, and that Lee caught him, but he escaped by using one of his tricks.

"How the heck did you do that?!?! If only me and the boys had that, they would never catch us! Show me this!" Eddy said, talking about the way that he escaped from Lee.

"I'm not gonna waste it right now dude. I have only 2 left. I haven't made any in a bit, but they last. Until you use them of course, ahahaha."

Eddy then says, "So, what's sockhead doing?"

Chris laughs before saying, "Are you ready for this?"

Eddy responds, "Say it!"

"He... oh my lord..." Chris tried to speak but couldn't help laughing.

"Alright... he's basically in love with her now."

Eddy is not exactly happy with this news, as, in his eyes, the Kankers were always annoying, disgusting and ugly girls he just didn't like, and his friends didn't exactly like either. He was extremely disappointed in Double D.

"WHAT!?! That's IT!" Eddy said, getting up from his seat and to his door.

"Whoa... where are you going?"

Eddy says, "We're going to save sockhead! This is enough! Are you gonna let him just get mindcontrolled by Marie!?"

"I actually gave him the advice to not... you know, get into romance things, but either he gave in to his feelings, or... Marie... you're right. I'm willing to listen to them, but if Marie is forcing this on him... oh boy, Double D is in the DEEP..."

"Let's go get Ed! He'll help us out!"

"Alright then. Let's go."

Speaking of Double D and Marie...

The two of them were still talking about things, but Double D was only becoming more nervous, because in his mind, Marie was going to want answers at some point, and he wouldn't want to say anything. And... wow. Double D is terrible at hiding his nervousness, as Marie catches on to this, and proceeds to ask, in a calm tone,

"Is something wrong?"

"No no, everything is completely normal!" He quickly responded, throwing Marie off.

Of course, Marie doesn't buy this, not one bit.

"Come on, you can say what's wrong. I'll listen."

Double D simply didn't care anymore about what Chris would say, as, quite frankly, he was sick of the constant lying. So, he turns to Marie and says,

"Marie... there's a lot more to this... I guess you could call it conversation that we are currently having."

"You want a marriage between us? Oh Eddward, you shouldn't have!" Marie said very excitedly, but obviously kidding.

Double D just froze.

"I'm just playing with ya silly! What's going on?" Marie said, grinning at him.

Double D couldn't even register where these emotions for her were coming from. Again, he has not once in his time of knowing Marie, ever felt this way. Regardless, Double D explains... well... basically everything, just like Chris did with Eddy. Double D just goes into the details of how he took her diary by accident, when he realized he still had it, when Chris found him in the restroom, the entire plan he and Chris made to return it, the details, and basically everything. Oh yeah, and Double D also mentioned the fact of Chris's whole thing about how he was warning him to avoid anything romantic with her, and how he agreed, but didn't fully understand why Chris was so rough on her. Double D mentions the earpieces too, and that that's how he and Chris having been talking on and off for the whole plan.

"Let me get this straight, you pressured him to return my diary, and you were willing to talk to me, AND still kiss back, even if he told you not to?" Marie, overwhelmed by this info, said.

"Yes, after all, I was more interested, per se, after what occurred yesterday, as I've never seen that side of you."

There was strange silence for a couple seconds until Double D says,

"Marie, I will now apologize for stealing your diary. I really value that people can maintain their personal belongings without someone coming inside their household-"

That endless amount of word spitting was cut off by Marie pulling him in for a EXACT 30 second kiss. Of course, Double D decided to return it, yet again, but he got shocked even more then the first time, as he expected her to become insanely angry to the point where he was scared if he would even live. Hahaha, well... he's getting something completely different. Anyways, after the long kiss, Marie stares at him with a amorous smile, and Double D finds what is going on nearly impossible to register. So, he decides to break the silence, again, and says,

"Marie, why did you do that? I thought you would've-"

Marie covers his mouth with her finger, and says,

"You were honest."

Clearly, Double D couldn't get better circumstances than what is getting right now. He was basically on Cloud-9, as everything was going perfectly for him.

"But... don't you think you would've been a bit angry at the fact that someone stole your diary, and could've peeked inside?"

"Did _you_ peek inside?" Marie asks.

Marie, he didn't.

"What?"

I was there was he had it the whole time. Just saying.

"While that was out of the blue, you can been assured that I have not seen any of the contents within the diary. I value your privacy." Double D said.

Double D then says, "Marie... do you believe what I said?"

"Of course! I trust you. And I doubt your friend would've admitted everything, in fact, he just would've hid everything. By the way, what are you doing to do about the whole 'no-romance' thing, even though you said that Chris knows? And, just saying, he is not going to have an easy time convincing me out of it, so don't worry muffin. But what's your plan?"

Double D didn't exactly want this to go to waste either, so he says, "I will attempt to convince him that you are more special beneath the surface level of what he might assume. After all, I do believe that people can change, and change can be a good thing, as it leads into great friendships, and relationships."

Marie felt like the happiest girl in the world, which isn't very usual for her. I mean, she could hardly believe that he was standing up for her, even with the past history. In fact, she then proceeded to say,

"You're so sweet! But... I guess maybe... do you like me...?" she said while grinning at him.

Double D was stuck. Did he want to tie the knot? Wait a bit? Would he friends understand this sudden relationship? Well, his decision came.

"Marie, will... umm... you see..."

Double D decided to stop himself, as he decided to show, not tell. What does this mean? Oh boy... he decides to do something that will be impossible to believe. Well, he leans into Marie's face, and he VERY reluctantly puts his arms around the middle of her... and goes in for a kiss. The first time he's ever done this, EVER. And Marie? She's now on Cloud-9 herself. As expected, she gives him the kiss back, and so, I guess you can say... a knot has been tied. Well, Double D makes sure of this by saying,

"Marie, will you be my girlfriend?"

Marie hugs him tightly and simply says, "YES!"

They hug each other in their little love bubble, and Double D just felt like he did the best accomplishment in his life. Yeah, he's more nervous then he has ever been in his life, but still, he managed to get his first girlfriend, but also, he managed to pull through, even through odds that seemed against him. Clearly, he got lucky, but also, he should really be thanking himself for being honest. Marie? She's just happy to finally have Double D as her boyfriend, plus, the fact that Double D, even with their past history, stood up for her mostly, couldn't make her feel happier than she did.

"Marie, may I go in for another..."

Marie cuts him off, and says, "Yes."

Double D leans in again, and well... now the two of them are 100% even. Marie kisses him twice, and so has Double D now. That's their 4th kiss in a row too, and by this point, it's pretty obvious, they are sealed together now.

But then, the door comes broken down REALLY hard, in it seems like a gag. Double D jumps, and Marie also gets shocked, as this seemingly came out of nowhere. Who did this?

"Ed, you moron! Don't slam us through the door like that! Jesus!"

It's no other than Chris, Ed and Eddy! This could get complicated.

"Oh, greetings gentlemen! Are you all alright?" Double D said concerned, with Marie staring at the sudden break

Eddy got up first from Ed's sudden crash, and said, "No! What the heck are you doing with Marie!?"

Chris jumps up too, and covers Eddy's mouth before saying, "Nope, **NOT GONNA HAPPEN."**

The manner that Chris said the last three words actually kinda made Eddy nervous, so he decided to not bother with talking anymore. Ed gets up too, and just, stands there... he seems to be worried about something, but it's not exactly clear WHAT, though. Anyways, Chris then proceeds to talk to Double D, by saying...

"Alright, well... what did I miss? Were you two having a moment?"

Double D looked embarrassed, and Marie looked annoyed, but the former was the one to speak, by saying,

"I suppose you could imply that. But Chris, please! I want to reassure you that I fully trust Marie, and that she's changed for the better!"

That statement wasn't the smartest thing to say, because Double D had little evidence of this. Chris then said,

"Okay, you know what?"

Double D was worried that Chris was going to go off on the whole thing, but Chris proceeds to say,

"If you trust her... I guess that's the more important thing. Not my opinion. Then again, it's not like you two are dating, because tha-"

"We actually are." Marie said, bluntly.

Glass is glass, and glass breaks. And glass broke the moment those words were said. No one in that room that wasn't Marie or Double D could believe what they just heard. I mean, to the three boys, they are just the flat out opposites, and them getting together seemed unrealistic beyond unrealistic. Chris, hardly believing this, says...

"Ah... wow. Just even I thought nothing could surprise me. How did this occur?"

Double D said, "By simple conversation and honesty of past problems, I would say that-"

"You just bonded like... that?" Chris said, snapping his fingers before saying "that".

"I suppose you could say that." Double D simply responded.

"Wow. And well... maybe I should address the elephant in the room, per se."

Marie was staring at him with an obvious expression of annoyance, as the fact that he had tried to make Double D avoid the whole romance thing... wasn't exactly a good thing to be known for right now. So, Chris cleared up the air a bit by saying...

"Yes, I know. But I'll explain everything soon, because... we might have an issue."

Marie says, "What?"

Before Chris answered, he noticed Ed... still standing there. But he was sweating bullets for... some reason? Chris decides to investigate what's going on.

"Ed?"

Ed does not respond.

"Lumpy! You there!? We need ya!" Eddy said, joining in.

Ed still doesn't say anything.

Or...

"They're coming..."

Ed said this insanely quiet, and Chris Eddy didn't hear him.

"What?" both boys say in unison.

"THEY'RE COMING GUYS! WE MUST HIDE, COLLECT THE SUPPLIES, AND-"

Chris cuts him off by saying, "CALM DOWN DUDE! Who the heck is... oh no."

The "they" that are coming are no other than Lee and May Kanker, who managed to find the 4 lads in Double D's house. Marie was stuck, as explaining herself to her sisters was going to be a much harder task to do than say. But then again, she didn't exactly wanna leave Double D mixed again on her, although she might be exaggerating, as... well, you've seen what's occurred on this day. She had a couple of valuable seconds before her sisters arrived though, so she told the 3 boys,

"Let me go to them and I'll make up an act. Okay? Play into it, all of you."

"This is gonna be fun! Hahaha." Chris said. Sarcastic or not? Does it matter?

"Double D, I'm gonna need you." Marie says.

Double D has no time to think before she walks out with him in a headlock and she yells out towards her sisters,

"Girls! Look who I found just waiting for a kiss!"

Marie, to put extra emphasis on her point, kisses Double D on the lips for a second. Of course, Double D would've entered a euphoria normally by this point, but he couldn't exactly do that, as his, Marie's and everyone else's cover would be blown, and he doesn't want to risk that. Lee then yells out,

"Well... great job Marie, and looks like you've found the other boys aswell."

Chris takes this as his time to react, although how he would do this is something that he would have to improvise for the most part really. Before he can think about that though, Lee says,

"So, you're the one who left without even saying bye! Where are your manners for a girl?"

"That's the stupidest thing I've heard. And I have manners. Not for you though." A daring Chris said. Yeesh.

"Oh okay." Lee said.

Clearly something was gonna go down, as Ed, Eddy, and Chris walked down to the middle of the cul-de-sac, where Lee, May and Marie, who was holding Double D "hostage". Obviously just for the act, but you know.

Chris said, "Marie, let him go! He's not your stupid property."

Marie responds by saying, "Hmm... I think I'll claim him as such, right muffin?" She says before kissing him... again. Double D doesn't show it, but he's having a hard time pretending for this act, as... well... it's not exactly the same as it normally, right?

"Dude... if you don't let him go, I'm gonna smack-" Chris was saying until Lee, cutting him off says,

"You don't get to make the choices here boy! Why don't I show ya?"

"Oh man, what's going on here?" Kevin, from his door says,

"Wait, is that not the new-kid-Chris-boy Rolf was introduced to a mere moments ago?" Rolf, with Kevin says.

"We've met him weeks ago Rolf, not moments." Kevin says.

"Hang on, why haven't I've seen that guy before?" Nazz, who is Kevin's girlfriend, asks.

"Oh right... I haven't told you about him. Well... wait a minute well ya?" Kevin tells her.

Chris realizes that everyone's is starting to notice the commotion dead center in the cul-de-sac. So, he says,

"Just give Double D back! He doesn't belong to you, Marie! I'M SERIOUS!"

"Jeepers Sarah! What's that all about?" Jimmy says, peeking out of a window, seeing what was going on.

"Stay out of it Jimmy, looks like trouble..." Sarah says.

"If you want him back, you'll meet us at the Pit, right girls?"

Everyone, and everyone means everyone, couldn't believe what they just heard. I mean, I'll just repeat it, glass is glass, and glass breaks. Chris doesn't know about the the Pit at all, but before Chris can ask any questions, Eddy steps in and says,

"Oh, we'll be there, and you'll regret taking him Marie! You hear me!"

Lee grins at Eddy, and says, "You have 5 minutes. Or... I think Marie can have all the Double D she needs..."

That sounds very... unsettling.

Chris then says, "What the hell... I can't even believe you just said that, like... WOOOOW."

And the sisters and Double D go to the pit, for... reasons that aren't very clear. Chris turns to Eddy and says,

"WHAT IN HELL'S NAME IS THE PIT!? EXPLAIN, NOW!"

Eddy simply says, "Relax! It's just a fighting place! It's where Double D fought Jimmy one time, and he lost! It was one of the most hilarious things ever!" He says before laughing.

"Don't do this Chris! The Kankers will make you into a flattened pancake! I've seen it..." Ed said, weirdly serious.

"Ed, I'll be fine. Those 3 hardly seem 'difficult' to deal with."

Kevin joins in on the conversation and says, "Chris, man... you've no idea what you've gotten into."

"Oh hey Kevin, what's up? I assume you and everyone else saw what occurred?"

"Hi there dude, I'm Nazz. What's your name?"

"Wow. Surprised there's another person I haven't met yet. Hello there. Well... I would say we have time to talk, but I gotta save a friend."

Eddy then says, "Chris... they're Kankers!"

"I don't care dude! Look, isn't he your friend too? Yeah? Then we have to get him back! No matter what. One thing you should know about me is, well... I don't ever leave a friend behind. This applies to Double D, as it does all of you. So, we are going to save him!" Chris said, lifting his fist in the air.

Inside Chris's mind though... he thought that what he said sounded more cool in his head, not out loud.

"Marie... I'll kill you if this backfires." Chris says in his mind.

Eddy, deciding to assist Chris in... some way, says, "Gentlemen and lady, let's go!"

And so... everyone decides to go to the Pit, including Jonny and Plank, who came with Rolf, Kevin and Nazz. The group of 8 had no idea what the heck this whole thing could lead to, but once thing is for sure... there's no rest for the wicked right now. Either way, Chris still has tricks up his sleeve, and he's gonna need a lot more too, if he is to get Double D from Marie. Then again, he was kinda mixed as to if Marie is still acting, or if this was Marie's "lustful" side coming in again.

Speaking of Marie and the whole act...

"Whatcha plan to do with him Marie?" Lee asked.

Marie grins at Double D, who leans up against a tree, before she says, "I think I'll have some alone time with him. You two, get ready for the rest of them!"

May and Lee proceed to do so, and Double D actually begins to worry if Marie is still "acting", per se, or if she's gone back to that lustful side. Deja vu?

"Marie?"

Marie laughs a bit, before saying, "I'm just playing with ya Eddward! I'll just do this."

It's just a long kiss, and although Double D isn't in the best of circumstances, he certainly did enjoy it. Heck, he entered a small euphoria, and pulled his girlfriend closer, and decided to enjoy the short, yet sweet moment. Marie's mind raced with several thoughts. She couldn't believe still that she and Double D became a thing, especially considering the circumstances. They both basically have the same thoughts, just in different ways for thinking, if that makes any sense. Regardless, they stop after 30 or so seconds, and Marie's proceeds to say,

"Let's just keep up the act until we can get them away from here. Ok?"

Double D shake his head as to say yes. And so, the sisters and Double D essentially just wait, but the group of 8 might wanna hurry, as Lee could get impatient.

"They here yet?" Lee says.

"Not yet Lee." May responds.

"Ahem."

Eddy says that appearing into the view, and entering the the Pit circle. Everyone else also comes in, but before anyone gets a chance to say... anything, Lee shouts,

"So, who wants to be first to save Double D here?"

Ed says, "What does that mean guys?"

"It's basically a fight proposal. This is not gonna be fun..." Chris says.

Kevin spoke to the boys, saying, "I'm sorry dudes, but I value myself, and I ain't going near them. One of you has to do it."

"What? Argh, fine. What about you Rolf?"

"Chris boy! Clearly you have not heard about the stories of the blood-haired girl and her brethren..." Rolf said, in a panic-like tone.

"I have. I don't care, all we are here for is Double D. Nothing more."

"But what's the plan Mr. Macho? They'll tear us apart!" Eddy responded.

Chris came up with a basic idea, but he wasn't sure it was going to be the best of ideas, however he didn't exactly have time to think much, as he hears Lee shout,

"Marie, you seem to want to take Double D to the trailer huh?"

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT! WE ARE COMING! JUST... one second!" Chris yelled out.

"Good lord... alright lads. Kevin, you can take the rest of your crew and just watch I guess, since you don't wanna risk any beat downs from those 3. If you change your mind, feel free to join, it's your choice. Eddy and Ed, you two have to be the first to... I guess fight the Kankers, because I'm going to make some things that will help out in case you don't succeed."

Chris pulls out a bag from his pocket, and says,

"This contains ingredients for certain things that can help us, but I'll need time to make them. Trust me, these can mean the difference between victory and defeat."

"But Chris, my mom says I can't fight girls!" Ed yells out.

Chris decided to pull a trick on Ed's mind that isn't exactly hard to do.

"Psst. Ed. You hear that...?"

"No...? Who is it!? Aliens?!" Ed asks.

"It's a voice, speaking to you... I can hear it saying something like 'if you are to fight, you get all the gravy, comics, horror movie-"

"COUNT ME IN!" Ed says.

"That was easy. Anyways, Eddy, you ready?"

Eddy reluctantly accepts this, before he does so though, he tells Chris,

"If this backfires, you are gonna owe us big time!"

"Alright sure. Get out there, hurry! They're getting impatient..."

And so, Eddy and Ed go out into the pit, and Lee proceeds to say,

"Ahh... my little man wants to go first?"

"Yeah! Bring it!" Eddy said, trying to sound intimating. Secretly though, he didn't exactly want to do this, because the last time that he "won" per say against the Kankers was when he yelled at them to leave Double D alone one time.

"Oh man, he's gonna get thrashed!" Kevin says, chuckling a bit.

Lee yells out, "Alright, here's how it'll work! Two rounds, and you lose if you don't get up after 10 seconds. May, you'll be counting down for whoever is down. If you win, you get Double D back. If you lose twice, then I think Marie will have more fun with her Double D. Unless you have another person who wants to try, like Big Ed there."

Eddy says, "Deal."

And so, they get into position for a fight, and May yells out,

"Go!"

Eddy tries to get the first move, but Lee grabs him, and...

"Oh jeez... AHH!"

Eddy essentially just gets twirled in the air, launched up in the air, and he is launched up until Lee moves out of the way and he hits the ground pretty hard. Eddy refuses to give up that easy, as he charges into Lee, which DOES ends up hitting her, but she gets him into a headlock, before lifting him up, and SLAM! Onto the ground. Eddy is kinda wanting to quit, but he decided to try one more thing. Since this wasn't against the rules, he tried to throw a rock at her leg, which surprisingly ends up hitting. He then throws a hit at the FACE, and he ALSO lands this hit! This shocks everyone, but Eddy doesn't exactly have much time to react, as he then gets grabbed pretty hard, and Lee essentially hugs him... really hard, to the point where Eddy let's out a scream,

"AHHHH!!!!!"

"I love you too, hehehe." Lee says, kissing him, as to add insult to injury. Eddy at this point is WAY too wasted, and not in the way you're thinking of. Eddy tried to get up, but his body didn't really want to assist with that. May starts to countdown...

"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5..."

"Come on..." Eddy thinks, but ultimately he fails to get up. And...

"...3, 2, 1! Lee wins!"

Back at the crowd area, where everyone was sitting down, they all had different reactions to what just occurred.

Kevin says, "Dude! He looks completely beat up! Eddy! You still there with us man!"

Rolf says, "Loud-mouth Ed boy is to be sacrificed to appease the Blood-haired Kanker girl!"

"Rolf, calm down, that's unlikely what's gonna happen. Also, that kiss at the end... that was just disturbing dude..." Nazz said, slightly disturbed.

Jonny then says, "What's that Plank? Chris? The new kid? Find him? Alright buddy..."

Jonny gets up and decides to talk to Chris, who was almost done with making his extra tricks.

"Hiya Chris!"

"Oh hey. What do you want Jonny? I'm busy making some stuff for when I decide to go up."

"Did you see what happened to Eddy? Holy moly!"

"Yeah... Lee is not gonna be liking her life when I'm ready to deal with her, I SWEAR. Still... what do you need man?"

"Plank wants to give you an idea!"

"You mean... your wood friend?" Chris said, dumbfounded.

"Yeah!"

Chris kinda needed some comedic relief, so he said,

"This is gonna be good. Alright, what's your advice?"

While that's going on, Eddy well... lost, and Lee says,

"Up for round 2 little man?"

Eddy gets up finally, but he's not nearly in the best of positions compared to the first round. He however, says,

"Shut it... I'm ready for you Kanker!"

Eddy was hoping that whatever Chris was doing to prepare himself, ended up in them getting Double D back, because this is all gonna be for nothing if they don't win in the end. Lee then says,

"Okay shrimp. May!"

"Round 2! Go!"

Aw crap, here we go again. Eddy didn't exactly think as to what he was gonna to do. So he just, runs towards Lee, and Lee trips him, and picks him up and does the accordion trick she did before. However this time, she throws him up after just a few notes, and KICKS Eddy to a tree, slamming very forcefully onto it. Lee then picks himself and throws him onto the ground, and she THROWS HERSELF onto Eddy, pretty much in an attempt to crush him. Eddy feels like he can barely feel himself, but he then says, weakly...

"Why... you little..."

He manages to get up and run into Lee, which does work, to Eddy's credit, and to more of his credit, he manages to slam her into the wall, and to finish his combo, he gets a hit to her face! But Lee only chuckles before grabbing him, and then knees him in the chin, and then hits her head onto his, which does hurt Lee a bit, but she isn't exactly hurting as much as Eddy is right now. Eddy at this point is nearly finished, but Lee, yet again in pity towards him, simply kisses him for 10 seconds, and drops him to the ground.

May starts to countdown again, "10, 9, 8, 7, 6..."

Eddy doesn't bother with the countdown, and says, "I'm out!"

"Okay then. Lee wins the 2 rounds!"

You would normally hear cheering or clapping, but well... yeah that didn't happen.

"Hey Eddy! I love you too!" Lee yells out.

"Agh!"

Eddy then proceeds to find Chris, who is just now finishing up his conversation with Jonny,

"Alright... if you and Plank insist."

"Good luck out there!" Jonny says, before leaving.

"Holy cow Eddy! You look like a bruised up banana!"

"Enough already! Chris, you better be ready, because you'll regret making me go-"

"Relax you dingus. I am. Ed, you don't need to go. I'll handle this nonsense. Oh yeah, Eddy, patch yourself up dude."

Chris throws a little aid kit for Eddy, which Chris can only hope Eddy knows how to use the supplies in there. Either way, it's now his turn to get out there.

Meanwhile...

"Oh my lord! Eddy!"

Marie tells Double D, "Yeah... Lee probably should've gone easier on him... poor Eddy!"

Double D gets slightly annoyed at the way Marie sounded, as she sounded more like she was enjoying this.

"You can't possibly be rejoicing in this senseless amount of violence! This is beyond inhuman!"

"You've got a point... but I think we need to find a way to get you back to your friends. Even if I don't really want to." Marie responds, grinning a bit.

"I'm messing with you. But who's gonna go next?"

Back to Lee...

"So, anyone else up? Or Marie can take Double D now?"

"No. I will go." Chris said.

"Ah... so, finally ready to see face-to-face, eh?"

"Shut up moron. Let's get this started."

Lee laughs a bit before saying, "You're gonna regret that. May!"

May says, "Round 1! Go!"

To Lee's surprise, Chris starts with a REALLY fast flying kick, that sends Lee flying, until she gets her grip back onto the ground. Lee then runs towards him, but he simply moves out of the way, and swipes his leg to trip her, and he pushes her away, though not very hard. The crowd's reaction though is another story.

"Whoa! Look at those maneuvers! This looks like it's gonna be a good one!" Kevin said.

"The Chris boy has awoken the beast!" Rolf said.

"How does he even do that...?" Nazz asked.

Back to the little battle, Lee is progressively getting more angry, as Chris kept on successfully getting more blows than she expected. She most likely got too cocky after her fight with Eddy. Regardless, Lee was pushing her limits a bit, as she kept trying to hit, but Chris seemed to always have a counter. But her defeat came when an uppercut and a direct hit to the face, and shortly after another flying kick towards the stomach. To ensure the win, so to say, Chris delivers a series of quick punches to the stomach area, and so, Lee goes down.

"Had enough yet?"

May starts to countdown, "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... Chris wins Round 1!"

The crowd actually ends up cheering this time. Funny, isn't it?

"Alright then... don't think you have it easy though!" Lee says.

And so, May proceeds to say, "Round 2! Go!"

Chris actually does a different start. He throws a smoke bomb to make himself disappear. But where? Lee doesn't even see him in her line of sight. And a different start, it is, as Chris start with a flying kick to the back, not the front. Lee is already starting to get annoyed, so she gets back up to actually start throwing punches, in which he lands two, but they are only effective a bit. Chris slams her, and starts to do simple dirty combat, hitting her in the face, and saying,

"LEAVE, MY, FRIENDS, ALONE!"

Lee manages to get him off, and kicks him away, but he quickly recovers. He does another smoke bomb trick, but this time, it throws Lee off, because she was expecting another blow at the back, but Chris just striked at the front with several quick punches. Of course, this doesn't occur without a reaction. Lee grabs his throat, but Chris simply kicks her away. At this point, Chris says,

"This has gone on for enough! This ends, NOW!"

Chris proceeds to throw another bomb, but it isn't one of smoke. It's a STUN. And he manages to hit Lee, and proceeds to hit her directly, but not with his fists, but with secret nunchucks he had in backup. Chris simply performs some normal blows, before hitting a REALLY hard blow, then throwing the chucks for 2 more hits, and for the last blow, he does a flying kick, by first running towards her, and launching himself for a hard hitting kick. That does not sound like something you can easily recover from. Because it's not. Anyways, that occurred, and the crowd is shocked at what they just witnessed.

May begins the countdown again, "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... and Chris wins the second round!"

"I didn't exactly want to do that. But I had to." Chris says.

Eddy runs in and says, "Holy cow! Chris, that was incredible! How did you learn all of that?!"

"Not right now. I'll tell you later. But I guess now Double D comes back to us! Those were the rules!"

Marie comes out, and says, "Have him! Whatever..."

Marie winks at Double D for a quick second, and she throws him towards the boys. Double D gets up and says,

"CHRIS!? What have you done? You realize the amount of pain you've inflicted onto Lee? I haven't seen this much pain since that one time i accidentally dropped a heavy book on her foot! I demand that-"

"Please stop. And I don't exactly do that stuff for fun. I'll explain later. For now, I guess we're in the clear. She's not getting up from that."

"Not yet! Lee, this is where you will never bother us again! DO YOU HEAR ME?!" Eddy says.

"Whoa, Eddy! Stop!" Chris says.

"No! MOVE IT OR LOSE IT!"

"Eddy, realize what you're doing! You're clearly under some influence of rage or something! Stop it!"

"I SAID NO! LEE, THIS IS WHERE YOU WILL BE-"

"Eddy, if you not gonna fight this rage, I'll beat it out of you. One round May!"

"Okay... Round 1! Go!"

"WAIT, WHA-"

Chris simply strikes at Eddy, but he kept in mind to go easier than normal, as the point wasn't to beat him to a pulp, it was just to get out his rage for Lee, as this "act", if it even was one at this point, had gone on for too long. Anyways, save you some time, Eddy stood no chance, as he either tried to do hits that were way too predictable for Chris, or got hit hard by Chris. Secretly though, Chris held back quite a bit, so that Eddy wouldn't need more aid. This fight was less than 20 seconds, as Eddy, after a hit to the face, says,

"Okay okay! I stop!"

"Chris wins that Round!" May yells.

"You cooled down now?"

"Yeah... I'm fine." Eddy says.

Double D says, "Chris! You must fix all the damage that has occurred here! This is so inhuman!"

"How exactly am I supposed to do that? Hmm...?"

Double D was pretty much in a checkmate position right there. Not very smooth, are ya?

"We're done here. Let's go back home. We have a LOT to talk about, and resolve. Oh, and answer too." Chris responded.

Kevin catches up to the boys and says, "Can we join with? Also, Chris, that was rad!"

"Enough already. I got it. It was cool. Ahahahaha. Sure, come join us."

And so, the group of 9 had all decided to join up and go to Double D's house, because oh boy they had stories, discussions, and many other things for some good old conversation.

Oh yeah... can't forget the Kankers. 

Lee recovered shortly after her sisters helped her get back to the trailer, where she says,

"That... is gonna cost them..."

Marie got lucky though, as her relationship with Double D was luckily only known to Ed, Eddy and Chris still, and her sisters had no idea of it yet. Which was good for her, as the moment that Lee discovers the relationship... Marie might be stuck. May simply says,

"Lee, but you saw what happened out there! He just-"

"SHUT. IT." Lee says.

"Just rest for a bit, and watch TV. I'll make something..." Marie says.

The two sisters, Marie and May, were stuck. The former had her secret relationship, and the latter was wondering if Chris would even hold his promise to help her out with Ed. When everything collides... it will get messy.

What the heck is gonna happen now? Hmm...


	17. Chapter 17: On With The Show

Chapter 17: On With The Show

That's something that's harder to do then you might think.

Anyways, picking up where we last left off, the group of 9 (Ed, Double D, Eddy, Kevin, Rolf, Nazz, Jonny, Plank and Chris) decided to have a bit of a large crowd conversation inside Double D's house. They all did several things during their time there. They watched some monster truck events going on, courtesy of Kevin. Rolf mostly spent the time claiming how his tractor would squash the trucks in the events. Granted... actually this would probably be true. Either way, they spent sometime doing that, and also getting some music into the mix. Eddy and Chris were assigned that, and the mix of music was mainly between some heavy metal/rock n roll that wasn't the heaviest per se, such as Motley Crue, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Motörhead, which all of it was courtesy of Chris, as he is the main one who likes that music, out of the whole group. Eddy put on some disco/RB type of stuff, which mainly consisted of Barry White, Tom Jones, among other things. Eddy also out on a little bit of Jimi Hendrix, as a little bonus of rock n roll, plus, he even enjoyed a good handful of the songs that were played by Chris. Everyone generally has a great time, and it generally was fun for everyone.

Although... there was Double D, who was sometimes dozing off into the distance, as he was thinking of his girlfriend, Marie. Just like her, he was lucky that no one, aside from the 3 mentioned before, found out, specially since, just like her again, he would have an insanely difficult time explaining the whole thing. Granted, while yeah, he was concerned about what the plan was for that, he had to stop for a bit and chill out with the lads. Though, this won't be the first time he thinks about this. That's for sure.

After around 4 hours, which meant it's around 7:30 PM, everyone, which means, the Eds, the original kids of the cul-de-sac, and you, the reader, wondered how the heck Chris knew those "moves", so to call them, back at the Pit. Well...

"Chris! Can you explain where on earth you learned those moves?! That was cool!" Eddy said to him.

"Well... it's a double sided story. Because, the moves themselves are their own story, and the things I use, like the smoke and stuff, are also their own story." Chris explained.

"Chris! Please do tell!" Ed yelled out.

"I would be delighted to hear about how you came about these rather intriguing maneuvers, if you be willing to share." Double D also added.

"Alright sure... everyone! Take a seat somewhere."

And so, everyone gathered around, and Chris began to talk.

"Once again... a story inside a story. Ahh... it's a life. Anyways, for the moves themselves... I didn't learn them myself. The first person who learned them was actually my father, who, when he was younger than me, around... 9 years old or so, he got interested in martial arts, because he saw a handful of films consisting of that type of stuff. So, he decided to get general knowledge of better fighting maneuvers. He couldn't apply for any classes until he was 13 he told me, so instead of trying the moves themselves, he spent time learning how you need to be, in terms of health, to perform these maneuvers. And so... for the next 3 or so years, he spent time COMMITTED to getting into as good shape as he could, so that when the time came for him being able to apply, he would be in the shape needed, and he wouldn't struggle. I'll speed it up for you all by simply concluding that, he basically kept doing this as one of his major things from 13 years old, to now, 38 years old."

"Chris, may I ask a question or two?" said Double D.

"Yeah?"

"Has your father done the work at a consistent rate? And if not, what has caused him to slow a bit?"

Chris chuckles a bit before saying, "Well, when he met my mom, at 22 years old, that's when he slowed down a bit. Because yeah, he loves his martial arts and stuff, but he and mom really bonded, per se. So, yes, he showed down for a bit, but then a point came, where he got back into action, so to say."

"Was your mother the main reason he slowed down?" Double D asked again.

"Nope. While... okay yeah, she was, but a year later, when he was 23, I was born. So, he slowed down more, but he didn't quit a lot, he mainly resorted to practicing his occasional move here and there. His teacher, that taught him everything he knew, understood his decision, so he went from going 4 times a week for 3 hours... to usually doing 1 time a week. Keep in mind, he told me that he would spend full weeks, and even weekends too, practicing and practicing."

"Pardon my constant questioning, but when did this increase in activity occur?" Double D said.

"No worries. I can answer anything. Well... when I was 10, I saw him doing a move or two, and I asked him 'What are you trying to do?'. That was when he told me the whole story. And so, he offered to teach me, in order to learn what he learned. I accepted, because initially I found it pretty funny, but then I got more... something about it just seemed cool to me. Anyways... he took me to the place where he got his lessons, and funny enough, the same teacher who taught him, taught me too. Granted, it wasn't just dad's teacher, dad taught me a thing or so aswell."

"Rolf wishes to know Chris-boy's adventure of learning the state of martial arts!" Rolf said.

"Well, I ran into issues. The first one was, unlike dad, I was not in shape for that stuff really. So, the first few weeks were spent doing that. Granted, it wasn't bad after the first week, but it wasn't easy either. Second, let's say that... hmm... they are very much looking for you to be precise. Of course, they won't act like you've committed a crime if you don't get a move down 100%, but they do want to see if there's constant room for improvement too. So, it felt as though it was endless, but I didn't wanna give up at the time, so... yeah. Lastly, I went through a lot of disciplines that they impose onto you. For example, you are not to use these in situations that aren't exactly necessary. Among other types of disciplines. Of course, it wasn't that I hated listening to that, it is important, but these were already in my mind before I went in, as dad told me the stuff before."

Eddy says, "So what happened? Did you give up!?"

"No! If I did... I wouldn't be here after the fight, ahahaha. I persisted. And dude... it was REALLY rewarding, gotta say. I mean, yeah, difficult? Yep... but it paid off. Trust me when I say, it helped out a lot more than I can count." Chris responded.

"Why don't you just go to the Kankers and pow! Bam! Get them outta here!"

Chris facepalmed, before saying, "Eddy, did you forget the disciplines?!"

"Forget that!"

"Yeah, no. You know what's one of their rules? DO NO HARM. Unless say, you HAVE to do harm... then do LOTS OF HARM. But I haven't done it unnecessarily, because, I don't need to, and quite frankly, it WILL catch up to you. That's just a fact."

Eddy simply rolled his eyes, but Double D says,

"While I may not have any experience in the art that Chris speaks of, Eddy, you should be more respectful of people's decisions of what they do with their powers."

"Alright, relax. But yeah, my dad has told me that my experience has reached intermediate."

"What!? But those moves seemed like near impossible to do normally!!" Eddy yelled out.

"There's five levels Eddy. Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Semi-Master, and Master. If you want context... being a master, so to say, requires mastery of everything. Health, Discipline, and Movement. There's extra stuff too, but it's mainly bonuses, and aren't nearly held in as much of high esteem as the previous 3. And my dad told me he has reached Semi-Master around 3 years ago... so imagine how much time it costs to reach Master. Or even Semi." Chris mentions.

Everyone seems shocked, as if it took Chris's dad 25 years to reach Semi-Master... it could only take about possibly double that amount time to reach Master. Chris doesn't know the age of the teacher, but he mainly assumed that he had to be in his early 60s. Double D then asks,

"How did you learn the tricks that you do?"

"Ahhh... yes. I've said everything you guys need to know about my moves, so, ask me questions about that later, if you have any. As for the tricks, that's not as long of a story. It was mainly self-taught, but I got assisted by someone with the making of the tools however. Basically, I discovered those tricks of, say... disappearing with a smoke bomb, on some movies where sometimes the main hero to whatever, would use one in order to escape from a bad situation. Plus, some ninja type stuff too was there. And so... my curiosity was born, and I wondered if I was possible to make those things, in some way. Of course, it was never going to be exact, I kept this in mind. But... doesn't hurt to try."

"How did you test this stuff? This is probably the coolest thing I've seen dude." Kevin asked.

"Basically, as a joke, I'd surprise my mom by, when she asks me to do the dishes, I would use one, and she would see that, see me disappeared from existence, and wonder where I went. And... voila. I did other scenarios too, for example, dad needed something downstairs, bam! In front of him too. He was actually proud of what I did. Again, as long as I didn't cause unnecessary harm with this, he was 100% fine with it. Here's the thing, yeah these are really helpful... but they take a while to make. Or... should I say, used to for me. Now? I can do it in less than 2 minutes. Granted, say if I wanted a more efficient smoke bomb, it would take at least 10 minutes, but a casual one? Can be done quick." Chris further explained.

Nazz says, "Doesn't that get you dirty and other stuff like that?"

"Nope. Well, it doesn't make the air very likeable, that's for sure. Funny enough however, I messed up sometimes making these things to the point that, it blew up in my face. Annoying? Yes... but hey! You learn every mistake! Ahahaha! Oh yeah... speaking of blowing up, the throwable that caused Lee to be stunned... I just call it a stun-flash, because... how to describe it... basically, it's a bunch of air forcefully pushed inside, and once thrown, it pops out, VERY hard. Either way lads... that's the story of how I learned my moves, and my tricks."

"Quick question Chris, how did you learn the ingredients needed for these things?" Double D asked.

Chris chuckled before saying, "Simple. Back in my place, in my school, I knew a girl who, was a major science persona. She and I commonly worked together on stuff, and she seemed to know how, chemical A would react with chemical B. So, when I failed mixing the correct things for the bombs, I asked her what would make an exploding mixed together, what causes smoke when mixed, and oh boy... she kept going and going, explaining every little detail. I let her nerd out though."

"I'm sure you did more than that! Ahahaha!" Eddy said, teasing Chris.

Kevin also joined in with the laughter, before Chris said, "Relax, jeebus... I will say that I'm still in contact with her, just not school-mate type stuff. We still like talking to each other either."

Double D, who lets his curiosity get him, says, "Apologies for the constant questioning once again Chris, but did you and this lady-friend ever get into...romantic interests?"

Chris yawned a bit before saying, "Double D, I think I've talked more than enough, okay? I need a break. But to sum up for you though, because of that knowledge, I perfected the smoke bombs."

Eddy then says, "Man, you've been on some adventures! These sound awesome!"

"Relax, ahahaha. You wouldn't last a second in my martial arts class however." Chris says, sticking out his tongue out.

"Oh hush! Man... you're a hard one to tease back."

"Maybe you should wrap that tongue up. It loosens up too much."

Everyone in the room laughs, but Eddy then says,

"Oh! I see how it is!"

Eddy then leaves the house, as he got annoyed of the teasing towards him. Why though?

"Huh... strange." Chris says.

"Why is Eddy acting so grouchy towards simple jokes? He does that all the time from my experience towards everyone." Double D says out loud.

"In fact... okay, maybe I'm just noticing a pattern in Eddy? He seems to be fueled by rage for like everything or something. Like, I've seen like AT LEAST 3 different situations where, he just lashes out relentlessly. I'll go get him, wait here." Chris tells Double D.

"We'll continue here, alright dude?" Kevin says.

"Yeah, right now, I gotta get him back..." Chris responds.

And that he tries to do.

"Eddy!"

"What do you want?" He says, annoyed while walking back to his house, at the front door.

"Dude, what's up? Why are you consistently raging insanely at even the smallest things? You know I didn't mean anything when I said that right?"

"Oh sure... BECAUSE THAT'S WHY EVERYONE LAUGHED HUH!?" Eddy barks back at Chris.

"That's their reaction. Not mine. Seriously though... what's going on? This isn't exactly all normal to me." Chris responds.

"Ugh. Chris! Double D is somehow dating MARIE KANKER! Does THAT seem normal?" Eddy said.

"Oh goodness... Eddy, LET IT GO dude. If he trusts her, that's HIS choice. Not mine, yours, Ed's, only his. Besides... keep this between us, but I'd say he scored pretty well. I mean, yeah, a nerd and some aggressive as Marie seems ridiculous, but he's lucky. I'm not jealous though. However, you seem to be."

Eddy, in a snap, says, "HECK NO! Chris... IT'S A KANKER! I would be jealous of Kevin and Nazz!"

In reality, Eddy wasn't jealous of Double D getting Marie. No, what he was jealous of is the fact that somehow, Double D, being the lad he is, got a girlfriend before him. Besides, Eddy tried way more than Double D, but... sometimes it's better to have knowledge of things before attempting them.

"But if it's not that... then what?"

Eddy stares at him and says, "You had me get beat up by Lee, and made me look like an idiot!"

"I already explained that I needed time to make the extra stuff. I NEVER intended for you to look bad, trust me. You might not believe me but... certainly never wanted that. Look on the bright side though my friend, I got Lee out of here easily, and Double D is now back."

Eddy says, annoyed, "Yeah... sure."

"Dude, just calm down... alright? You don't have to let everything work you up. Got it?"

Chris offers his hand to Eddy, who is currently just sitting down in front of his door.

"Alright sure..." Eddy says, a little reluctant, but he overall decides to join back.

"Come on brother. Let's get back."

And so, they go back to the party, after a resolve of things. The group just enjoys their time for around 2 more hours, just for more music, funny antics, and among more other things. It's now 9:30 PM, and everyone decided to leave and go home in order to rest. However, Double D and Chris stayed for a bit to talk about some stuff, and to clear up some confusion.

"I'll see you two later!" Chris said to Ed and Eddy, leaving.

"Take care gentlemen!" Double D also said.

"Cheers buckaroos!" Ed yelled out.

And so, Double D closes the door, and proceeds to talk to Chris.

"Chris... do you have any questions about what occurred recently?"

"Oh man... alright, FIRST, this relationship between you and Marie... is it actually legit, or is it something you were forced to do? I did say that I believed you, but I said that in order to not get Marie insanely mad."

"I can reassure you that me and Marie have shared a rather great bond in the recent days." Double D explained.

"Good. I'll have you know that I'm trying to get Eddy on board with this, just so you know."

"Appreciate it Chris!" Double D said.

"No issues my guy. Next... Hmm... what's your plan for you and her though? That fight really jeopardizes everything..."

"Well, the first thing to do is mainly talk to Marie... however I may try to attempt to do that, I shall figure it out with her. But I don't believe that she is able to talk with me as of this moment." Double D further explained.

"Huh... maybe wait until tomorrow?"

"Good idea. But school is soon to start however. I will have to do it as soon as possible."

"Seems like you have it figured out then. Well... that's a good thing." Chris responded.

"Indeed." Double D says.

"Alright man, I'm exhausted. Jeez.. this whole chapter has been too much about me! But hey, I enjoy telling a story or two. I'm going home man. Take care of yourself and your girlfriend." Chris says, getting up and leaving Double D's house, while they both say their goodbyes.

Double D then goes to his room and he decides to revise his school supplies, because he likes to keep things in order to be prepared. Either way, his mind focused on his supplies, as his habit of keeping things organized REALLY bloomed. For around 5 or so minutes, he does this, however, he had heard a loud thud in his room upstairs, which sorta creeped him out. He had to check out what or who did the noise. Weirdly enough, the first thing he noticed was that his door was magically open. Why is this weird? Because he never leaves the door open like... ever. So, this gets his suspicions up. He enters his room, and it's pitch black beyond belief, to the point where he is basically blind. However, he faintly sees something... or someONE? It's basically a figure on his bed. He tries to move closer before he hears, a creepy voice say,

"Come closer Eddward..."

Double D is getting paranoid, as he couldn't see anything, but once he reaches his lamp... the figure is gone? In fact, Double D looked under his bed, and... nothing. Was he just too tired and stressed to the point where he just needed a break? In his mind, this seemed to be the case. So, he just sighs, and relaxes a bit, before closing his door, and putting the locks on it. But the moment he finishes this, someone literally goes at him and kisses him on the lips. Initially, Double D jumps back, but he quickly relaxed as he realized that... surprise! It's Marie. Somehow, she managed to sneak into his room by climbing the window, and that's how she got in. Either way, Double D returns it back, and Marie jumps onto him, which, because Double D struggles with this type of stuff... Marie ends up unintentionally forcing him into the floor. Jeebus, he has the weight of a twig or something.

"Whoops! Are you okay?" Marie asks.

"Yeah, Marie, what are you doing here this late?" Double D asks.

"Umm... well, we need to talk, no?"

"Marie, it's late, you should go to sleep." Double D responds.

"Please...?" Marie says, doing the classic "puppy eye" trick. Double D sighed, but then laughed a bit. So, he gets up from the floor, and so, they both sit down on Double D's bed.

Well... time to clear up more things. The cycle NEVER ends, does it?


	18. Chapter 18: Time After Time

Chapter 18: Time After Time

And so, our two lovebirds has sat on Double D's bed, and began to talk about things, because to say that they had a movie's length worth of things to talk about is an understatement in itself. Either way, both of the lads start to discuss things.

"So, you doing okay muffin?" Marie asks Double D.

"For the record, I am doing perfectly fine. Gotta say, you pull off the act quite well. Everyone was convinced! But... Lee got badly hurt, how is she doing? That's the most important of questions." Double D responded.

Marie then said, "Relax! While yea, Chris's moves really hit her, she isn't weak. I can tell you from experience, trust me ahaha. Where the heck did those tricks even come from him? I would've never expected that."

Double D proceeded to... well, tell, but not tell, the full story of Chris's adventure of learning that stuff. Of course, Double D, respecting Chris's privacy, he didn't go into all the personal details. He mainly explained the important parts, like how his dad basically started the whole thing, he saw his dad doing a move, his progress with the learning curve, among many other things. Marie was pretty surprised to hear what she just heard, because she again, didn't expect that stuff from him at all.

"Dang... if only we learned that type of stuff!" Marie said.

"My word! So you can just torture us more than you did?" Double D said, panicked.

Relaxing him with a quick peck, Marie said, "I'm just kidding silly! But that actually sounds cool. Anyways, Lee is angry right now, that's what you should know."

"Oh dear..."

"Can't really say she took her loss well. She is really mad, but honestly? She should take a hit or two, because what she did to Eddy was honestly slightly disturbing if you ask me... I knew she could be sadistic, but never like that. Eddy never stood a chance. Why was he even volunteering to go first? He would've stood no chance!"

"According to what Eddy told me, Chris needed time to make extra utility items, and Chris told Eddy to buy him time by facing Lee. Why must everything come down to senseless violence, we need decency!" Double D explained.

"Well, we have some. You and me." Marie said, with a smile.

The two lads remained silent, until Marie asked something that was very important for her to know, and could determine the way this relationship goes.

"Why did you decide to choose me? Why not that other girl, Nazz?"

Double D was never able to explain himself, but look here, he's got a chance. And with no one to interrupt him either! So, he begins to talk, saying, "Marie, I must say that you, as an individual, realized that your... rather amorous ways weren't working, and that with them came consequences that would've catches up to you later in the future. You managed to grow out of that unnecessary attitude, and I'll say that you've changed quite a bit if you were to ask me. And I... oh dear... how to put this... find you very beautiful?"

Double D didn't sound confident at all, but that was because he wasn't. Like... at all. Marie didn't exactly mind this, as, well... she finally realizes that the constant "chasing someone for 700,000 miles" thing was just flat out not working, and was getting pretty old too. Still, she couldn't help but smile more at the fact that Double D had complimented her, something that seemed impossible, but then again... what is occurring now seems impossible.

"Do you actually mean what you said?"

"Yes. 100% Marie, don't worr-"

You can assume why he was cut off. Yep, another kiss... what else is new, eh? However, Marie literally got on top of him, like just a few minutes ago, but this time, Double D wasn't gonna hit the floor or suffer an injury or two because of trying to have her on his back, or generally carrying her. Either way, they spend around 5 minutes doing... that stuff, and they continue talking about other things. Such as...

"What's the plan then?" Marie said.

"For...?"

"This whole... thing, we've got going on. It seems as though Chris is fine with it. What about your other pals?"

Double D never thought about that at all, as... well... the only other people who know about this thing were Ed and Eddy. Double D said,

"Not to worry. I'm pretty sure Ed will be fine with this, he'll just have a freaking out moment or two. Eddy might be difficult to convince however. Although, Chris did stand up for me in explaining the whole situation to him, so he told me. I do not yet have a plan for the rest of our fellow cul-de-sac, as I would rather keep this private for a little while longer, if that's okay with you."

Of course, Double D felt like he was taking a risk saying what he said, because... one of the rules he kept in mind when doing this was: Let the lady have her way. And with Marie? That seemed like a more common occurrence than anything. But she said,

"Fine by me."

And so, they reached a general consensus about what the general plan was for when the people of the cul-de-sac found out about the whole relationship between Double D and Marie. Marie then proceeded to lay her head on Double D's shoulder, which at first made him slightly nervous, of course... never being in that type of predicament. But he settles in, slowly but surely. Anyways, Marie then asks a question,

"Where are your parents? How come they are rarely here?"

Double D explains, "Well... that is a story within itself. You see Marie, my father prefers to travel around the world, as he does tours for certain places, and is responsible for getting pictures, general descriptions of certain areas, and many other types of information for certain places he visits. He usually stays in hotels or motels, in order to make the project much easier on himself. He does call occasionally though, and will check to see how I am doing. As for my mother, she prefers to travel aswell, but she is actually works at a plane service. She always was interested in plane travel, and how they worked, and so, she spends her time there. On some occasions, she'll encounter father there, and talk for a little bit before he goes on back to his trip. I will say that my mother is usually the main person I see in the house, not that I discredit my father by any means however, as I can appreciate the work he puts into his job. The world has many places to explore, and he was always passionate about that."

"Don't you get a bit bored here?"

"Well, usually, there's always a chore or something I can do here, but it's not like I always spend time here. Ed and Eddy usually have a plan or two, and we sometimes join with the people of the cul-de-sac in various activities, which, is more of a common occurrence after the large situation a while back with the meet up of Eddy's brother."

"Ugh... he was a absolute jerk. Glad Eddy get away from him honestly." Marie says.

"Agreed on both points. Eddy did himself a great service for everyone, as honesty is always the best way to pick."

Marie simply sat there, next to Double D, listening very deeply to what Double D talked about. She enjoyed listening to him, even if say, sometimes it wasn't exactly a topic she cared about as much, then again, she puts up with that a lot with her sisters. Double D then says,

"How about you Marie? I don't recall ever seeing your mother."

"She is a long, long story sweetie. Wanna hear?"

"Of course Marie, no need to worry."

Marie pecks him before saying, "So, unfortunately... she was exactly the best of role models. Her and our three dads didn't seem to connect from what I know. The weirdest part was that, yeah she meet our dads and... did the thing you do to make kids, hahaha, but she has never been clear on how me, May or Lee came to be. She hid it from us the whole time, but I've always never been told my story. Or hers. Nowadays, she serves as a waitress here and there. It earns her just enough to help us out, but sometimes it's hard... here and there."

Marie sighed a bit, before continuing, "I've honestly never met any of our fathers, so to say, but I don't even know if they remember us. The faintest memory I have of my father is when... he and mom were arguing and it just got out of hand. I don't remember who started it, but it just... sucked."

"Have you ever tried to talk to your father before?"

"No... May doesn't know where her father is, Lee doesn't... and I don't either. I'm sure that they wouldn't have left us, but the problem was mom's attitude. From what I can remember anyway."

Double D felt very bad for her, as the fact that she, and her sisters to go along with it, had no father figure, and their mother kept their birth stories a mystery, just seemed cruel to them all. He hugs Marie tightly, and she returns the hug back too, before continuing, saying,

"Well, now you can make fun of me for that..."

"Marie! Don't tell yourself nonsense. I would never make fun of someone for their personal issues! It is low beyond low, so to say. But don't worry, I'm here to listen to you, not make fun of you, that would be beyond unhelpful."

"I'm glad you said that, as... simply put... we don't talk them ever. It's not like we don't want to either, because I'm sure that they weren't bad, but how am I supposed to know!?" Marie shouted a bit.

Double D hugged her tighter, and she burys her face onto his shoulder. Double D saw the importance of this to her, as the fact that she doesn't talk about this, and the fact that she isn't sure if the fathers were bad, shows how it affected her to now. Double D wanted to help, but he wasn't sure how to, as he usually wants to look for a solution. But this time, that wasn't a possible option, as family problems are usually very hard for someone who isn't a part of the family to solve. So, due to not knowing what to say, he simply restates,

"Marie, I'm here to listen. Do not worry."

Marie simply smiled at her boyfriend, before kissing him once more, and then after she calms down a bit more, she asks,

"When did you and the other 2 boys become friends?"

Double D answered, "It goes back quite a while ago, when, Ed and Eddy were conducting a scam about Ed eating a television. My memory is a little groggy as to the full on details, but I actually ended up giving 25 cents at the end of the day. Ed ended up actually eating the television, and I can only imagine the problems his stomach encountered after he digested that... but I suppose I DID get what I pay for."

Marie laughed before she said, "What was up with your house? I was going to visit earlier, but I saw everyone at your house, and I thought... maybe I should wait later."

"Everyone decided to throw a random party hangout for reasons I'm not exactly certain of. I presume that we were celebrating the victory at the pit, but I want to assume that isn't the case, because I would get plenty worried and disturbed a bit. Regardless, that was when Chris revealed the story of his martial arts training, and his trick learning aswell."

"Kinda wished I joined in, but I doubt everyone would... allow me, ya know?"

"Marie! Don't be silly! I would've allowed you in for sure. After all, this is my house."

Double D probably should've thought how that sounded, because Marie raised an eyebrow, and grinned before saying,

"Oh... so you're the boss now?"

"Well..."

Marie laughs before simply saying,

"Relax! I'm just messing with ya as always."

Yeah... Double D is gonna have to either get used to this humor or... something, because he is just NOT USED TO IT AT ALL. But hey, lucky for him, Marie doesn't seem to be that bothered by his lack of seeing when she is sarcastic. Either way, they both they spend around 30 minutes, enjoying each other's company and talking to each other about funny parts of their lives, as... well, with no interruptions, or anything of the sort, they both knew it was the best time to some more conversation. However, both of them see the time, and Marie says,

"Oh my gosh, it's basically 10 PM!"

"Although I would be up for spending more time with you Marie, it is important for you to get sleep, so, would you mind if I walked you out?"

"Excuse me, I can do it myself!" Marie yelled in his face... why?

Double D gets intimidated by that, and... admittedly a little hurt, but Marie laughs before pecking him yet again, and saying,

"Of course you can!"

Again, Double D clearly had to get to used to Marie's jokes, as that was something he was hardly used to, considering the jokes, back then... let's just say tended to end to things that weren't exactly very funny jokes to him, but, once again, to her were the most hilarious thing in the whole wide world. Either way, Double D walked Marie to the door, and simply said,

"I hope we can talk tomorrow like this perhaps. The distractions are very minimal, which I would argue benefits us."

"Me too. Take care cutie, alright?"

"You too." Double D responds.

And they give each other a slow, yet passionate kiss on the lips for around 15 seconds, before they say their goodbyes. Double D, honestly, couldn't feel happier than he did. Why? Well, it basically sealed at this point, the whole relationship thing between him and Marie, and he was happy that, even with all the ridiculous things that occurred that day, he was able to keep the relationship between him and her, and even grow it a bit. Granted, it wasn't by, a LOT LOT, but it was more than a little. So, mostly in the middle ground. Either way, Double D was just glad, because he was hoping that the fight, the drama and everything, didn't have an influence on the relationship. And that, it didn't have. Lucky for him! Regardless, Double D needed to rest now, as this day had way, WAY too much for him to stomach. A plan that led to an unexpected connection, that then led to an even MORE unexpected relationship, and that then led to an all out brawl, and THEN lead to quite a hangout between basically everybody in the cul-de-sac, AND FINALLY, now he learned more about Marie's life, and he understood more about her that was rather important to herself. After all of that... he clearly needs a long rest. Even with the weight of what occurred today, he, at the end of the day, is proud of himself.

And what about Marie? Well.. she had her own little thoughts too. What are they though...?


	19. Chapter 19: Evil Never Dies

_Author's Note: How about 2 chapters back-to-back? Why not? Besides... this is quite the chapter so... enjoy two chapters mostly back-to-back!_

Chapter 19: Evil Never Dies

By this point, everyone is sleeping, or, MAYBE you're Ed or Chris, watching a movie, or playing some games. Even then, everyone is mostly tired, as the party at Double D's house was quite the event. From stories shared, to general fun, to music. and many other things, everyone simply was drained, so to say. Although, Marie was one of the few exceptions. She, as you just saw, finished up talking to Double D about several important things to both of them. Currently though, she is walking back to her trailer, surprisingly happy. Then again, she got her dream boy, and basically sealed the relationship... again. Or, in better words, it's basically FOR SURE SURE sealed, as the fact that Double D was willing to still keep this thing between them make her happier than usual. And, one thing is FOR sure too, nothing or no one was gonna rip this relationship apart, as clearly both of them were 110% committed to this. Not 100, 110. Regardless. Marie smiles her head off as she heads towards her trailer, and along the way she has several things on her mind about Double D, to the point where it seemed like she got to the trailer in half a second. It was like a 5 to 10 minute walk. But either way, home sweet home. Although... the sweet part might not be 100% true.

Marie enters her home, and May asks her,

"Where were you Marie?"

"Mind your business May!"

May, surprisingly, still remembered what occurred yesterday, when Marie was with Double D and Chris, trying to figure out a plan to make May happy, but... yeah that's practically non-existent at this point. Either way, May had to figure out what was up.

"Marie! I have to talk to you!"

"About what?! You messed up your hair!?"

"No! Shhh! Lee is not really in the mood..."

That is true, because Lee is still recovering, granted she is not like, close to death or anything, let's relax lads. She is simply restoring herself for now. Anyways, Marie says,

"This better not be stupid. I'll beat ya if this is."

And so, the blonde haired and blue haired Kanker sisters went up to the bedroom, and so, May asked,

"What were you doing with Double D and Chris that day?"

Marie was shocked. How in the heck did May find out about this? She wasn't there at all! Little did Marie know that when she screamed INSANELY loudly, May heard that, and recognized that it was Marie was screamed. Marie, wanting answers, said.

"How in the heck do you know about that?"

"You screamed loudly and it kinda scared me! I had to see what you were doing! And I saw you with them!"

"May, do not tell Lee about this. If you do, I will actively make you fight Chris, and I'll tie your hands, and make sure he does not hold back, GOT IT?"

"Relax! Jeez... do you have to be that rough?"

Marie's little blackmail was... not very smart to say, because... well... you know what she doesn't. Anyways, Marie begins to explain,

"Remember that day that the boys did that stupid stunt? Yeah, I went to Double D to talk about it, and he revealed the truths. About how Eddy and Chris made up the stunt, and during that, I explained how you got hurt to Double D, and he offered to try and help. He then tried to talk to Chris, and after some convincing, Chris joined. We then went to Ed's house to convince him to tell you that the whole stunt wasn't his idea, but Eddy wouldn't stop talking, and I had to shut him up. But I left afterwards, as I was too angry to continue the whole plan. That's the basic story."

"So it's true? Ed didn't do the stunt?"

"Did Double D tell you or something?"

"No. Chris sneaked in here earlier today and I THINK he had your diary. I caught him and he explained everything. But I don't know what his plan is now to help me with Ed."

Marie was shocked, as because Chris basically hid everything, but of course Double D was purely honest about this stuff. Marie tells May,

"Double D told me the whole thing about the diary. I'll save you the details and say that Chris was meant to return it. I see that he did. Good."

May says, "He promised to help me out with Ed, but is he even gonna do it now?"

"Relax May! It's most likely not you or me he has a problem with, it's Lee. And... she has an issue with him. So, this might be hard, but wait for a while until he gets this fixed, alright? Surprisingly, he has listened. But... he better pray that his moves and tricks don't fail him..."

Marie and May laughed a bit, before May said,

"Where did you go earlier though? I tried to find you earlier today, but you went somewhere. Did you go to Double D's? Hmmm...?"

May said that in a playful tone, as if to make fun of Marie, but Marie... well, she decides to tell May about the relationship between her and Double D. But this could be a bad choice on her part, let's see.

"Me and him are... well..."

"Wait... he's dating you?!"

"Yes. KEEP. QUIET. He basically poured his heart's honesty to me, and I honestly couldn't believe he revealed everything. The diary, the whole schemes, and then he revealed the whole plan then. I... well, kissed him in a little bit too quickly, but he GAVE IT BACK! And then, he actually asked me to be his girlfriend, which of course I said yes, and that's how it started." Marie explained to her sister.

May could hardly believe those words that Marie said, because May always knew that Double D was WAY WAY too much of a shy dude to even look at Marie without wanting to move to Nepal or something. Marie then says,

"I know, hard to believe."

May then says, "But who knows about this? Of course Double D, but does Eddy or Ed know?"

"Those two and Chris. Plus... you now too. Me and him agreed however to keep this under 'public view' as he would most likely say. But trust me, he's a really great guy. At least to me."

May says, "What's the plan now? We don't have any time today to really do anything. I just hope Lee doesn't make us do something dangerous..."

"She can't anyways. Don't tell her I said this, but she needs to stop acting so irrational. I stopped doing that with Double D, and looked what occurred! Plus, it's honestly getting old, we are now what, 15? This is just getting old."

"Lee is actually 16, but I suppose you make sense..."

"See!? But when she gets back up to speed, what is she gonna make us do? Whatever it is, please tell me I can count on you not joining her...?"

May, without even a hint of reluctance, says,

"Yes. Of course."

Although, this whole little thing about not joining Lee in whatever scheme she might in mind is likely to be for naught. Why? Because downstairs, Lee yells,

"GIRLS! GET DOWN HERE!"

May and Marie are slightly concerned by that scream, because whenever Lee yells like that, it's usually not anything that could be considered within the realm of "good". But the two sisters are forced to see what Lee wants, because not responding to her usually results in her getting angry. And so, they both go downstairs, to see Lee, while injured, can still do her basic tasks really. Then again, it's not like she needed help from her sisters, even when they intitally came back from the fight. Either way, Marie decides to speak to Lee first, by saying,

"What the heck do you want?"

"Watch your tone Marie, and... it's time for payback."

This cannot be good, both Marie and May thought to each other simultaneously.

"Those boys think they have it all perfect? Well... time to make their lives a bit harder."

"By doing... what?" asked May.

"Because now that both of you are here and fully ready, I now have the perfect plan for a little payback. Since it's now their little bedtime, we now have a basis for a good attack."

Let's just say what she is saying, she is planning to redo that plan of kidnapping the Eds again, just with all 3 sisters doing it this time.

"Lee, this plan failed last time! Why do you-"

"BECAUSE YOU LEFT DURING THE PLAN ONE-EYED BUG! NOW, LISTEN, OR YOU ARE GOING TO REGRET IT!"

Uh oh...

"Get some ropes ready. We leave now, before we don't have any more time. Got. IT?"

At this point, while both Marie and May swore to not doing any bidding for Lee, as they both mutually agreed that this whole thing was just getting out of hand now, they had no choice, or else who knows what Lee could do. Besides, she was clearly not happy AT ALL. So, no choice for the most part, unfortunately. However, Marie says,

"How much rope?"

"For 3."

Yep. The EXACT same plan as in Chapters 11-13. The only change this time is that it's mainly just for revenge, and also May is now in this. Marie was severely reluctant to do this, but again... what choice does she have? However, she is going to do a secret trick behind Lee's back, which is basically to leave a note for someone to help her. Whoever this person might be... it better be someone who can help, because this is most likely to get ugly. Either way, she gets a piece of paper and begins writing a little thing detailing what is going on. This piece of paper is most likely going to Double D, as he is the one she likely trusts with this information, but we shall see soon.

The sisters are now ready to execute the plan,..

(10:45 PM) The 3 sisters are now in the cul-de-sac, and Lee tells her sisters to get their Ed. So, Lee will get Eddy, Marie gets Double D, and May gets Ed. Simple, ain't it? Either way, Marie goes to Double D, and oh boy... it just isn't the same. Marie decides to kidnap Double D in a different way. She first decides to wake him up,

"Marie...? What is...?"

"Hi Double D." She says.

"What time is it? It can't be 12 even..."

"I'm sorry, but Lee has snapped and wanted us to kidnap you. She is going to force this, and if we don't do it..."

"Lee?! Does she..?"

"No. Don't worry. But can you do another act? I know we just did one, but we HAVE to, or else this will end badly. Just act alright?" Marie says.

Double D is very concerned as to what exactly could occur. But he decided to trust his girlfriend, after all, the last act they did didn't end in the WORST manner... but it could've gone better. At least, in his mind.

"I hope I can trust you Marie."

"Thanks sweetie!" Marie says, then she kisses him before saying.

"Oh, yeah... I have to tie you up to make it look convincing. Don't worry okay?"

And so, Double D gets up from his bed, stands up, and Marie just ties him up to where all of, if not most of the rope covers him. Marie simply carries him, but before she gets to the trailer, which is where Lee said to go after the sisters got their Eds, goes to another house.

"Marie... where are we going?"

She simply puts the letter she made into a mailbox for someone.

"We're good. Don't worry."

Double D simply decided to dismiss what she just did, he didn't even understand what was going on fully, and for the most part he was just thinking that the constant events occurring were too ridiculous for him. Either way, to his surprise, May had got Ed, but that wasn't very difficult as he is QUITE the deep sleeper. The thing with May was that, yeah she wanted to stop her attitude too, but this plan had conflicted with her process. She got him, but she just felt bad, as unlike Marie with Double D, she couldn't exactly assure Ed that it was an act, as Ed most likely still thinks she is the same person as say, when they first met. May REALLY wanted to show a change, but this was going to be a LOT more difficult than it appeared. As for Lee, Eddy was also a deep sleeper, so he had not reacted at all to what Lee was doing. It's probably good that Eddy didn't react, as well... the things that Lee could do to him were most likely going to be VERY bad. So... now all three Eds are taken into the trailer, and the sisters just put them next to each other, still tied up and with Ed Eddy still sleeping. Double D of course, while awake, simply didn't comment on anything. Mainly because he had to keep an act with Marie that wasn't fully planned yet, but also because he couldn't believe that the Kankers... or more like Lee, stooped down to this level. Before the sisters leave to go to bed themselves, Marie winks at Double D for a second, and he smiles a little back at her. However... what exactly is the act or whatever that Marie has in mind?

Well...


	20. Chapter 20: Blackened

_Author's note: Here we go... yet again. If you thought "IT'S A RAID!' was long... this one is 33% longer. I will have to admit right now, because of what happens in this chapter, I think it's likely for this story to go to a T rating. Granted, it's not like it's too harsh, but I wouldn't say it's light either. Don't worry, the rest of the chapters won't always be like this. I'm talking too much, so, I'll leave you with this: the chapter was going be EVEN LONGER, but... yeah, this is long enough. This was fun, like the other chapter I mentioned, but either way, let's get into this chapter!_

Chapter 20: Blackened

Finally! We are starting a chapter on a new day. The last 6 or so chapters were all in the same day. Just thought you needed to know.

Anyways, Chris spent like, 2 hours at night playing some racing games, in his room, as he decided to move the gaming systems to his room to spend nights better. Either way, he was close to finishing up the last 3 races of an EXTERMELY long championship, that he forgot about, as he was busy helping out the Eds for the most part, that he had little time to play games. Not that minded much, it's just that after lots of drama, you are going to want a break. Either way, he finally finished it, and got one of the better prize cars from it too, satisfying him. He proceeded to listen to music for around 1 hour to get his energy catharsis from songs like "Before I Forget", "Straight To Hell", "Angel Of Death", "5 Minutes Alone", and many, many other songs. Knowing him, it was more like close to 3 hours, as he went on a binge, as the cool kids say, on music. However, he passed out due to exhaustion that collected over the course of the whole day at around 4 AM, and he didn't wake up until literally 12:30 PM, skipping most, if not all of his morning. Chris simply laughed a bit at that, as when he stays up... that's usually something that commonly occurs. But he wasn't planning anything huge today anyways, as he planned to mostly take some time to himself to prepare a little for school, plus, the drama was something he was getting a little tired of. He didn't over exaggerate what he needed for school, his phone for music and mainly calling and texting his parents in cases where he has to, his notebooks in case either he needs to write something down for class, or gets bored, and lastly at least 5 pencils, because those are the masters of disappearing when you need them the most. He spent around 30 minutes doing that, because he realized that he left one of the three notebooks in a random drawer.

"How the heck did you get there?"

Chris dismisses this, as he probably just left there when he finished moving everything when he first arrived. Either way, he just puts it inside his black, matte backpack. He has had it for 3 or so years, but he hasn't thought of changing it really, as it works well enough for him. It's not like it has no space or anything, so he's fine with it. Either way, he begins his VERY late breakfast, which is just your normal chocolate cereal and mlik. He then watches some videos about random topics that interest him, or things that he generally finds funny. After his finishes breakfast, he takes the lanudry to the washer, in which he kills the time by taking a shower, and getting into his black shorts, plus his daily usage of a band shirt. This time he decided to wear a Slayer shirt, but either way, he decided to check the washer, and it was almost done. He just waited for 5 more minutes, and done! He drys it for 40 minutes, and kills that time by playing a different, yet same game. It's basically the same game series, just a different entry. This time he played the 2nd entry, and the dryer beeps, signaling that it's done. Then, his duties for that were done, so he spends 2 hours to himself, playing games, watching videos, and checking things in the house. It's now around 5 PM, and he just remembered to check the mail, which is something he nearly always forgets, unless his dad reminds him. Either way, he goes to check it.

"Wonder what the Eds are doing. Maybe I should check up with them."

Chris decided to do that after he checked the mail. That he does, but he doesn't find anything interesting. It's just random junk ads, that he doesn't care for at all. Seems as though the ads in the mail don't go away anywhere now, so they? Either way, he is rather unamused by the lack of anything interesting. But one letter gets his attention.

"Hmm..."

He read the "label", that said

"To Chris, read ASAP. -M.K"

"Who exactly is M.K? The heck..." Chris said.

Chris took all the mail, and went inside and put all of it on the living room table. Chris thought about the M.k letter, but right now he couldn't remember who that could be. Either way, he goes to check on the Eds, to see what's up. First he goes to Double D's house, but he sees no one home at all. He did the trick that Eddy told him, where you climb on the pipe that leads close to Double D's room window. And to his surprise, he didn't see him.

"Maybe at one of the other houses?"

He went to Ed's next, and didn't see him through his window showing the basement, where it's his room. Again, Chris got confused.

"Eddy's. Right?"

Nope. Chris thinks that perhaps they went somewhere in the morning together, and perhaps they tried to get his attention, but because of his VERY late night sleeping... yeah. Chris goes back home, and remembers about the weird "M.K" letter. What, or WHO, could that even be? It's now 6:30 PM however, and Chris spent around another hour playing games, but Chris decides to read the letter from "M.K". He put it in his room out of all the mail, however he still had zero idea of who in the world that was, but... Chris opens the letter, and oh boy he is in for a surprise.

_Chris, I know you just had the fight with Lee, but she's forcing us to kidnap the Eds. Me and Double D are going to make an act between us, but you must get the Eds outta here. If Lee forces us to do anything, I'll let you know what. Sorry this can't be longer, but Lee is forcing us to go do this now. _

_-Marie._

Chris stopped when he finished the last sentence. In order to keep this story a K rating as much as possible, let's just say this lads. Chris got so mad that he had to cool himself down with songs like, "Wait And Bleed", "(sic)", "Get This", and other anger relieving songs. He spent only around 20 minutes doing this, as he clearly had to plan out what the heck he was gonna do. This was MUCH harder in hindsight, as now, it's a lot more unpredictable. But he might have to wait a bit before planning, because he hears his name said downstairs,

"Chris! Puedes venir aqui abajo?"

For your convenience, I shall translate what isn't in English, your welcome. That said: Chris! Can you come down here?

"Great, it's mom."

Chris goes downstairs to see what his mom wants. Of course, his mom, whose name is Maria, is usually a reasonable, nice person. This isn't an exception.

"Si, mama?" (Yes, mom?)

"Porque gritase con tando ruido?" (Why did you scream with so much noise?)

"Ahh... fue una parte de una cancioń." (Ahh... it was a part of a song.)

"Okay. Bueno... planes a hablar con amigos hoy? No hay mucho tiempo hasta escuela." (Okay. Well... do you plan to talk with friends today? There isn't much time until school starts.)

"Honestamente... si. Esta bien contigo? Decidimos a hacer una ultima cosa antes que escuela comienza. Emperará en 20 minutos." (Honestly... yes. Is that fine with you? We decided to do one last thing before schools start. It will start in 20 minutes.)

"Si. Regresa antes de las 10, okay?" (Yes. Return before 10 PM, okay)

"Si. Entendido." (Yes. Understood.)

Chris basically lied to his mother about the whole REAL situation, but can you really imagine being in his shoes, having to explain that WHOLE situation to your mother? If anything, she wouldn't fully understand the extent of the problem. Chris didn't blame her, in fact he understood himself too, but he just can't risk his mom thinking he was doing something bad or anything. Either way, at least his mom is fine with him going out to "do one last thing" before school, even though obviously this is NOT even CLOSE to the case. Chris goes to his cloest, and takes out a pure, matte black jacket out of a box. He put it here because it was something he wore a lot back in his old place, mostly due to the fact that sometimes he would get into not exactly the best of situations, and he had to go rogue sometimes. Think of it as his solution of fading into the shadows. Either way, Chris always did like the way the jacket looked, but it has a bit of history between him and it. He doesn't have the best history of course, but either way, he takes it out. He actually rolls his eyes before saying,

"Looks like we are back together old bud. If only just for this."

And so, he got the jacket out of the box and put it onto his bed. Chris decides to put on some more music while he's preparing and one of the songs he puts on is, "Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!".

"I'm not actually gonna kill, relax reader." Chris said out loud.

That was given. Anyways, Chris prepares himself with more things than usual, such as a secret taser his dad gave him in order to defend himself from any and all intruders. However, he set it to a level 2 setting out of 10, where yes it would shock, but not cause great pain, as the latter was not Chris's goal. He then decided to work on several smoke bombs, as he was sure to need them. The jacket also had 2 pockets inside, so it worked in his favor more too. As for other things he brought, he brought his nunchucks again, and two stuns in case things got really ugly, and he had nearly no other choice to solve the issue. Of course, he is going to hold Marie to her little promise, because if this doesn't get resolved easy, it's gonna leave a mark.

"It really doesn't help that school starts tomorrow too... if this starts to affect how school goes..." Chris didn't finish what he was saying, he only exhaled.

At this point, Chris sees two routes for this. One, if Lee steps down with the Eds, he will be willing to let this go, if anything just have a grudge for a bit, but nothing serious. Two, if say she is very insistent on keeping the Eds, he is not going to hesitate to use his better moves, because at this point... the whole Kanker VS Ed thing had to stop, because these two seemingly NEVER stop their fighting. Chris didn't mind helping the Eds at first, but he is not looking to make enemies here, as that never leads to good things. Plus, he doesn't gain anything from that, if anything, he would only gain negative attention and energy towards himself. He HOPES that the former can occur, but if not... he will have no choice. Although, deep in his mind, Lee is probably going to attack the very first micro second she sees him. Which... he will be prepared for. Then again, it's not like he'll make enemies with ALL of the sisters, as he has a neutral platform with May and Marie. Friends? Maybe he's slightly reluctant to say that, but he definitely isn't cut-throat with either of them. Chris then thinks of the whole Double D and Marie thing...

"Man... hope that those two don't get split up..."

The reason he says this is most likely because of the fact that those two are being thrown into more drama than most couples can endure. He does admire both of their dedication to the whole thing. But then he thinks, is there even a way to convert the other two? Ed and May doesn't seem THAT impossible, but Ed's odd fear of girls makes it unnecessarily difficult. Either way... one thing is for sure... in his mind, Eddy and Lee were IMPOSSIBLE. They don't listen at all seemingly to their teams, and they both are equally brash and bold. Chris knows more of Eddy's experience, granted he confronted him about it, but he hasn't seen Lee's side of things. Although... it shouldn't come as a surprise that someone that he beat up heavily and finished off with a move involving nunchucks... hates him. Then again, in his words... "I did not wish to do that."

"Almost done... one last thing..."

Chris gets something else from the closet, which was just a mask that covers his mouth and a bit of his nose. The reason he got this was because he was planning to do a whole stealth thing to get the Eds out. It was almost close to night, granted it was more orange outside, but the environment suits a stealth approach. Plus, he put on black pants to complete the perfect "stealth" attire for the whole plan. Either way, he now had to begin his whole plan. However, he contemplates whether or not he should get someone's assistance, as yeah... this plan would obviously be easier to do with another person, but one issue. Who exactly would be willing to help him?

But then Chris remembers something Double D and Eddy told him about one time, where, Ed was kidnapped by Lee and Marie for May, and Double D and Eddy both mentioned the fact that Rolf, Jimmy and Jonny helped them both save Ed. Granted, Eddy insisted that the trio of 3 be bait, but nevertheless, they saved him. Expect when Rolf and his crew were kidnapped themselves, they decided to give them Ed again... for some reason. But then Double D offered to trade Eddy for Rolf, and Rolf decided that Ed wasn't responsible, and... yeah Eddy didn't have a good time. But that's his fault, in Chris's mind anyways.

Chris decided to TRY to ask Rolf for help, in order to make this plan easier. But if Rolf didn't want to help, he understood, and he will have to do the plan himself. And so... he leaves his room, seemingly prepared enough. Before he leaves however, he tells his mom,

"Ya voy a regresar." (I will be back.)

"Okay. Adíos!" (Okay. Bye!)

Chris said in his mind, once he left out the door, "This better not take long..."

But first thing's first, he went to Rolf's house. Chris was positivity Rolf wouldn't be a hindrance in this plan, since if he could bail out Ed and manage a small group, he would be simple to work with. That is, if he (Rolf) accepted Chris's invite. Either way, Chris goes to the door and rings the doorbell, and takes off his mask so that Rolf doesn't mix him up, or not recognize him.

"Hello there he-who-knows-the-bone-crushing-maneuvers Chris boy!" Rolf said.

"Hi there Rolf. This is pretty sudden, but I need your help with something." Chris says.

"What do you desire?" Rolf says.

"So... long story short, the Eds are all kidnapped by the Kankers, and I realized this because none of them are in their homes... and it's nighttime, and they are still not home. I got all prepared, but... some assurance would be helpful for me."

Rolf basically stares at Chris with an expression of... thinking?

"Hmm... this is true, he-who-is-dark-as-the-shadows?"

Chris simply said, "Yeah..."

Rolf simply closes the door, and Chris stand there confused. Does this mean he is going or not? Well, he gets his answer... right about now.

"Fear not! You shall get the support of the Urban Ranger!"

Chris notices how Rolf changed up into a boy-scout like attire, but he could guess that the whole thing was what the Rangers wear.

"Alright. We are going to be doing it stealthy, or... for more simple terms, sneaky."

"Understood Chris-boy. Where are the Eds boys being held, hmm?" Rolf asks.

"At the trailer most likely. Or, no, FOR SURE at the trailer. Again, let's take it in a sneaky manner, and it's night time basically too. Take it slowly, and don't be rash, got it?"

And so, voila! Chris and Rolf are now teamed up, for now at least. Chris wonders however if there's a specific reason WHY Rolf wanted to help, but he dismisses this as it's really unimportant to the bigger picture. Anyways, they both start going to the trailer through the alley first, going through the construction yard, which... when is that going to be reoperated again? Eh, I guess not. Regardless, both of the two lads pass through there and into the tress leading into the Park-N-Flush. The two scanned around to find the trailer, as... well remember the fact that... it's night time, making seeing anything harder than normal. Either way, the two boys still were looking for the trailer, until Rolf hears a voice,

"LET US GO! I SWEAR, YOU'LL REGRET THIS LEE!"

"Rolf hears the mouth-as-loud-as-a-horse-Ed boy" Rolf whispered to Chris.

"Good. Finally a pointer to the location. Come on."

They move in the shadows still, or in Rolf's case, in the bushes. Either way, Chris gets closer tot the source of the voice, and he knows his close... but if only he could get another yell from Eddy. But then he hears Ed screaming and yelling in a silly way, and boom! He now sees the trailer of the Kankers, through the darkness of the night. He calls over Rolf, and says,

"Finally. Rolf, here's the plan. You will turn off the power to their trailer, so that I can do maneuvers in the dark MUCH easier. And I will get them out of there. Somehow..."

"Rolf wishes you luck, may you return with a victorious outcome!"

Chris rolls his eyes, but either way, he appreciates the support. He looks around the back of the trailer, where he last snuck into last time, but unfortunately for him, the window was not open this time. He isn't willing to give up that easy, however. He tries to shove an object beneath a very small opening for the window, but no matter how much force or anything he tried to do to open it, it just didn't work. Chris decides to try one last thing. He puts some adhesive that's soft and slippery under the opening, and he tries two objects to prop the thing open. This also fails, but why has THIS one failed? Well... Chris realizes that the window had a lock on, so nothing he could've done would've worked. Unless he shattered the glass, but that would be too reckless and he was most likely gonna do enough damage as is. So, the window is a negative option for going inside. Chris then decides to climb up and tries go through the roof... but the trapdoor to open the roof opening was ALSO locked. The thing is, he wanted to avoid the front door, because that would be very unprofessional, and it would be very noticeable that someone got in. Chris is running low on options, but then he sees Rolf, who manages to kill the light inside the trailer. That's one plus for him at least, and should he attempt to do the front door strategy... it wouldn't be AS hard. Chris signals Rolf to return, and the former gets down from the roof to meet back up with Rolf behind a tree, for cover so that no one would see either of them.

"Killed the power I see?"

"Indeed. The darkness's shadows will now eats the homes of the living here..." Rolf said, ambiguously.

"That's... what? Never mind. We have a problem. The only way we can get inside is, sadly the front door. The sisters are most likely inside doing stuff with the Eds... ugh."

"Hmm... follow Rolf."

Chris decides to do so, and they both go to the door. Rolf however, pull out a stack of random mail, and tells him,

"Rolf shall distract the beasts! You will save the Ed boys!"

"Huh... simple enough. Let me just do this."

Chris goes up to the door, and quickly hits the door two or so times FORCEFULLY, so that the sisters react to who or what is at the door. Chris however, backflips around to the back again, and sees what Rolf is doing. He sees that Lee and May noticed the noise and Rolf, and Rolf says to them,

"Ahh yes! The exchange of the paper must be done for light to return to your homes!"

"What are you talking about tough guy? Did you turn off the power?" Lee said.

Chris quickly, but quietly goes inside the trailer. He had two things on his mind, first was what the heck Rolf was planning to do for that distraction. Second, he wondered where Marie was, as he is under the assumption that she is doing yet another act. God forbid she was caught or something, because she is going to go through hell to fix everything up, or at least not have tensions everywhere. Either way, Chris enters and sees the living room, a place he recognizes because of the stunt he did with the Eds 11 chapters ago. But he smells something pretty bad somewhere, and he finds the kitchen, and he saw some burgers that WERE ON TOP OF A PAN. Chris nearly vomits, but he couldn't be bothered with that, because he had an actual thing to do. He sees that upstairs has... light!? How?! Well, he goes up the stairs, and sees that someone has turned on a lantern. Makes sense at least. Either way, Chris opens the door, and he sees Marie and the Eds. He opens the door and says,

"AHEM."

"Who are you?!" Marie said, not recognizing him at all.

"Marie, you know me already."

"Chris?"

"Yeah. I snuck my way here. Plus, got some assistance."

"Who did you get to assist you Chris?" Double D said.

"Rolf. Remember when you told me about that time Ed was kidnapped? I remembered that and I decided to ask him for help. Surprisingly, he agreed to help me out in saving you lads. Either way, let's get outta here dudes. School is tomorrow, and I'm NOT letting this stupid nonsense stop us."

"Isn't that the farmer dude?" Marie asked.

"Yeah. Again, he agreed to help me, and he is the reason why the power is currently off, but trust me, I'll get him to turn it on again. I do not want to leave this place in a mess, I only need no power for this operation. So, Marie, care to explain?"

"What?"

"Why or how did Lee get the idea for this crap! I thought that little loss she took back at the Pit, why is she attempting something like this!?"

"She wanted to get payback at you, and she forced me and May to do this! I tried to make sure May and I didn't do much to them, the Eds I mean."

"At least that's good. But we have to get them outta here, because Rolf's little distraction will not last forever. Like... at all."

"But Lee is gonna ask questions as to how they escaped!"

"Just say that you were downstairs and magically, something or someone-"

"MARIE!" Lee yelled.

"Just be quiet lads. I will handle this crap..."

Chris says that before he... fades into the dark?!? What? Okay, basically he isn't visible at all. No one in the room sees him, not even Marie.

"Did Chris just fade away into the dark?" Double D asked.

"I'm scared right now guys!" Ed yelled.

"Ugh! This is what we needed! More stupid Kanker antics, more problems for us, and more things that Chris has to save us from! Marie, I hope your little thing with Double D is worth this trouble!" Eddy yelled.

"Marie! Look who I found!"

Rolf is actually captured by the sisters, because his act wasn't convincing to the sisters, unfortunately.

"Ed boys! What have you provoked!?"

But Rolf's questions might have to wait, because May is then kidnapped and dragged away... where? Well... it seems to the cloest in the room, but... she isn't there? What the...?

"Who is doing that?! Show yourself!"

The person who is doing is he who shall not be named. Because, the person catches Marie's leg with a rope, and she is also dragged away... somewhere.

"Are you afraid to face me, whoever you-"

Lee then gets quickly hit in the face, but she didn't even see who did that, maybe half a second silhouette she saw, but nothing else. She is getting progressively more angry already.

"Let me guess, Chris."

Chris steps out of the shadows, and goes into the lantern's light.

"Yes. Give me the Eds, and I won't bother you."

"Not without seconds."

"I am serious. GIVE. ME. THE. EDS."

Chris sounded dark when he said that, and the Eds and Rolf were surprised.

"Why don't we fight for them? You won last time, so this shouldn't be an issue for you, right?"

Chris is stuck again in the position that we was in the other day. But if a fight is what she wants...

"FIGHT!" he yells out.

Because there's no announcer, I will take the helm. Lee then says,

"This time, 3 seconds to get back up, or you lose."

"Fine."

Round 1. Go!

Chris just starts with his nunchucks, and already he is landing blows. He ends his starting combo with a kick to the wall, and Lee isn't doing well for this start. Lee simply retreats downstairs, and turns on a spare light that doesn't need to be connected, and she can clearly see what he is now. She tries going into the kitchen and throws some tools from the kitchen to him. But Chris simply rolls out of the point where he would even be in hitting distance. He managed to grab a pot and throw it back at her, actually hitting her in the chest. Ouch. Lee then noticed outside that May and Marie were tied to a tree, and she could only assume that Chris was the cause of that. She then proceeds to jump at Chris, missing but landing a punch or two, which knocks him back a bit, but nothing special. She actually manages to kick him back however, due to him not having his guard up. Lee runs outside and cuts her sisters down... and now she has the numbers advantage.

"Oh wow."

"Now you're in the deep boy. Ready girls?"

Secretly, Marie and May were told by Chris, because obviously he was the one who did the trick, to simply play along for now. So, he says this,

"Don't hold back then, if you think you're gonna win. If you lose this... I won't even bother talking."

"And here, only one round, but you will get the Eds. If you win."

"Fine by me." Chris says, punching his fists together.

One round... GO!

Chris simply takes care of Marie first, as she decided to strike first, so he just uppercuts her and kicks her away. Lee however rushes toward him and slams him to the floor, but he performs a flip that kicks her in the chin and regains his stance. However, Chris gets back to her by a simple flying kick, plus jumping and using momentum to do some spinning kicks. For now, Lee is out. Marie however, recovers and charges at him, and pins him to the ground, doing, yet again, dirty combat. Chris easily blocks the punches, but to get up from the whole thing... he just hits his head to Marie and that hurts her to the point where she doesn't even continue what she was doing. May only does a similar move to Marie, which at this point Chris is used to, so he just, trips her. Not much to it then that. Lee gets up however in time,

"GET AWAY FROM THEM!"

Chris realizes Lee is charging at him... something that he is getting bored of. So, he gets out... somethings from his jacket pockets, and waits until Lee is close enough. She tries punching him, but he blocks everything, and throws what are basically flash mini-bombs onto the floor, which blinds Lee. He then simply aligns his fist and... ouch. Direct hit to her face, extermely hard might I add. Chris doesn't stop there, as right after the punch, he SLAMS her head onto his knee, and as a last thing to top it off... he simply kicks her away. At this point, he is clearly done more than enough. He simply turns to the other sisters and says,

"I'm done here. This is gone ENOUGH! Just back off and don't bother me."

Oh, but someone begs to differ. Lee, SOMEHOW, gaining her power back enough, attacks Chris with a metal pipe. He senses this coming, as he expected this a mile away. He simply grabs the pipe, takes it out of her hands, throws it away, hits her by throwing a hard uppercut, and decides to do a move that is gonna be very difficult to pull off. He gets some momentum going and does a LITERAL bicycle kick, doing a total of 15 really quick hits to Lee's chest. Chris isn't done yet however, as a last thing to top it off... a HARD punch to the stomach area. That is DEFINITELY not gonna help Lee the next day. Oh lord...

"Fun time is over, moron. You can't rage if you're knocked out cold." Chris said to Lee, very annoyed.

"Hey! That's MY sister you're harming!"

"Marie! Don't you test me. Maybe if your sister was such a rash, irrational moron, I wouldn't have had to do that."

Marie was concerned that Chris was doing too much to solve the problem, as Lee hasn't even fully recovered from the last time they fought, and now Chris added basically more insult to injury. If this kept going, Marie might have to retaliate. Either way... yet again Lee loses, and Chris throws her onto the ground, and then gets the Eds out of the trailer, and frees Rolf too. He is getting weirdly dark...

"Marie, and May, get your sister in recovery mode or something. And... make sure she doesn't do reckless stuff. I'm serious."

"Chris-boy! Rolf is amused! Taking the bull by the horn for the second time!" Rolf said.

"Oh yeah, Rolf? Turn the power back on for everyone, will ya? Don't exactly wanna leave this place without it having something important to everyone around it."

"You are correct Chris boy, the city must be protected from the shadows!"

The city? Well... okay then. Either way, the group of 5 left the trailer area alone, minus Double D, who quickly said his bye to his girlfriend Marie. Along the way back to the cul-de-sac, the boys decided to talk about some stuff.

"What the heck were you three doing? Or, should I say, forced to be doing?"

"They just made us do their stupid chores while they were just being lazy! Thank goodness I'm never going with either of them!" Eddy bluntly said.

"Eddy! Relax a bit, the one who was bossing us around, as Eddy would say, was surprisingly mainly Lee. She had, for some strange reason, taken lead of the roles we were meant to do."

"And what would happen if you refused to do them?"

"THEY WOULD SUCK OUR BRAINS OUT AND FEAST ON THEM!" Ed yelled in a panic.

"Relax Ed. If anything, they are not zombies, just... hmm... misguided."

"Well... Lee commonly threatened us with hideous acts of violence... but what surprised me was the lack of any amorous acts from any of them. Surely they mustn't have had a good day from yesterday..."

Chris was noticing a trend in what Double D is saying. He is never referring to ALL of the Kankers collectively. No, in fact, Lee seems to be the main one causing all the problems, as Double D is never referring to May or Marie doing anything. However, just to clarify...

"Hang on... what about the other two?"

"Marie and I spent time talking when Lee or May were nowhere to be found. Luckily, if she had to be rough, it was all an 'act', as she said." Double D, chuckling a bit.

"Huh... alright. Gotta say though, the fight this time was easier. And it was all three sisters, my goodness. If anything, it proves that numbers mean nothing if they aren't helpful as a whole."

"Chris... did another fight breakout?" Double D said, out of concern.

"What...? You didn't notice?"

Double D's face was one of shock.

"Chris! You must stop this violence at once! There is no more good that comes from relentlessly attacking someone, we must use more civil and calm manners to convince them to not do evil."

"Just shut up. If Lee's first instinct wasn't to mindlessly attack what she doesn't understand... that is her fault. Not mine. I WILL defend myself when I have to." Chris barked back a bit.

"But you just caused more-"

Chris turned to Double D with an expression of annoyance and anger, and coldly stated, "I. Don't. Care. She deserves it. If you want to defend her..."

Chris didn't finish his sentence. At that point, it was clear to the other 4 boys that someone isn't exactly feeling Mr. Nice Guy right now. Double D decided to stop talking, as yeah, he will always stand up for... anyone seemingly, sometimes he has to not take certain fights. Either way, he just stops talking. Eddy, surprisingly, asks Chris,

"Hey Chris, are you gonna sleep the moment ya get home? I got some questions for ya tough guy."

"If you want to talk... yeah sure I guess. Not for long though, alright?" Chris said, emotionlessly.

"Chris-boy, Rolf wants to present you with a reward for this mission!"

"Oh yeah?"

Rolf presents Chris with a medal called "Freeing The FoolZ", with the Z looking very much put on afterwards or something. Either way, Chris accepts the medal, even if it's nothing that special to him. Regardless, the lads now reach the cul-de-sac, and all but Chris and Eddy went to their houses to go to sleep. Eddy had to ask some questions to Chris, but Chris first had to talk to his mom.

"Ah! Quien es tú amigo?" (Ah! Who is your friend?)

"El se llama Eddy. El quiere preguntar algunas cosas. Está bien?" (He's called Eddy. He wants to ask me some stuff. Is that okay?)

"Si, solo que no tomás tanto tiempo. Okay?" (Yes, just don't take so much time. Okay?)

"Eddy, before we head up to my room to talk, want a drink or something from the fridge?"

Eddy says, "Why the heck not? A bit thirsty anyways, so I could a drink."

Chris simply nods his head, and passes him a soda and Chris also grabs another soda for himself. Eddy and Chris then go to Chris's room, and Eddy looks around and is actually pretty intrigued by what's there. He saw many things, such as the various posters of albums such as "Diary Of A Madman", "Painkiller", and "Ace Of Spades", along with posters of band pictures. He noticed the logos for the bands themselves too, such as the ones for Black Sabbath, Anthrax, Motley Crue, Pantera, and others. Eddy sees also that Chris moved his systems for playing games into his room, but he didn't really mind that, as Eddy was actually pretty interested in the things he saw, granted Eddy himself wasn't the biggest Metal fan, but he doesn't mind the occasional song here or there, unlike Double D, who doesn't really like it. Either way, Chris asks Eddy,

"You like the posters or something?"

"These look pretty cool man. But uh... hey, I was wondering how you've been. You didn't seem very, up? I guess you could say." Eddy asked slightly sheepishly.

"Alright... not really. Look, this feud between you, your friends and the Kankers? This has gotta stop someday. You guys are really gonna enter 18 or so years of age still doing this same old stupid crap?! This is just old as hell to me! I'm sorry dude, but you and the boys need to figure out how to bury this hatchet, because I'm sick of having this burden placed on me. I can easily take any of them down, I can easily save you guys from them, but this is going to start being a negative very soon if you six cannot get it together. The more I think about it, I'm happy for Double D and Marie. They moved past their... past, and look where they are now. I'm not suggesting you get into a relationship or something with one of them, not that you would... just... find a way to end it."

Eddy was stunned by what Chris just said, as to the former, it sounded as though the latter was selling his soul trying to manage this problem, as it seemingly never stopped following everywhere. Of course, Eddy had to respond to what Chris said, so he says,

"I get what you say man... heck... remember that time me and the boys told you about? We almost got the Kankers away from us, playing into their game?"

Chris chuckles, surprisingly, and says, "Oh yeah... didn't you mess that up at the literal last moment or something?"

"Well... Double D led the whole thing. I still don't understand how they friggin found out. Ugh... but look, I understand what you say, but Lee is just too persistent. I don't even get it, why?! Why does she keep doing this? This isn't even funny or attractive! It's straight up creepy to me, tell ya the truth. Maybe I should figure out how we can time travel, and make that stunt we did before you came work."

"How the heck did that whole thing even start again? I kinda forgot, sorry."

"No worries my guy. Basically, Double D saw Rolf destroy a rock with another smaller rock, and got the idea from that. Honestly, what got him to think that is something I'll never understand. You know what's the more funny part? Ed actually started the whole thing. Yes, I'm not even joking. I'm surprised May didn't also join with him, in fact, she got shy or something. So, it was going well, Double D did his parts for Marie... or rather all the sisters, and then he gave me some flowers to start my move... but I STILL don't get it! How did they catch me, or us?"

"Were you nervous? Did you slip up?"

"I have no idea. Man... we should scored big time. Ah... next time huh?"

Eddy and Chris both share a laugh at Eddy's last statement, before the former continues talking, saying,

"Still... I have no idea what to do to get rid of those... or, it seems mostly Lee..."

Chris then offers a suggestion, "There's an idea I have in mind, however to be honest with you it's highly unlikely it will occur, considering how Lee is. I mean, I see that you're changing up a bit. But her? Yeah, not likely at this rate."

"What is it?"

"Maybe you should get together with her, and have a full, and actual conversation about things. Notice how I say, maybe though? Yeah... you know why..."

"Alright alright, I won't say no if I get the chance, but something tells me that I probably won't get the chance." Eddy responds.

"Never say never my dude." Chris says before chuckling a little.

Eddy and Chris realize that it's surprisingly only 8 PM right now, and they still had plenty of stuff to talk about.

"Did I ever tell you about the situation we had with Jimmy?"

"Yeah. Where you told me he framed you and the other Eds for things you didn't do? That's dirty man... jeez, even to someone like me." Chris says.

"The Kanker appeared taking us from a fence once his blaming was over. His reasoning for the whole thing was stupid anyway."

"Why did he do it?"

"Because, earlier in the day, me and the boys came in after they finished singing a song about friends being there to help you, which I shall say is good, but at the time, we didn't really care. Well, Double D did. Anyway, Jimmy wanted everyone to show love and all that other stuff, and I saw it as a great time to do a prank. So I just did a wedgie on him, and everyone laughed at him. However, I guess then he started to do his plans and stuff, because then we got blamed for throwing a hockey stick into the heart the kids built, erasing Plank's mouth, and stealing red paint."

"Okay... honestly? The lads in the cul-de-sac are extermely rash and stupid for not thinking more about it. No offense to them, but ya know..." Chris commented.

"Right? Anyway, it got worse when we found Jonny all... tied up with Jujubes or something. We tried getting him down, but the kids found us and again, they assumed we were the cause of the problem." Eddy explained further.

"Oh my lord... idiots. Jesus, even a five year old would think more than they did as to what would actually be occurring in that situation." Chris said, annoyed at the fact that the kids simply assume things within a second, and don't think.

"Tell me about it. We ran away to a shed, where... we thought Rolf was the one there, but it was somehow the Kankers, morphed together to make Rolf's shape. We were stuck between giving them... I have no idea how many kisses, but it wasn't gonna be pretty. It was either that or, deal with the kids."

"Let me guess, you and the lads chose the latter?"

"Without a question. But it didn't even matter, because later on that's when we were tied to a fence and the Kankers got us." Eddy said, letting a sigh out of annoyance.

"Well, karma dude. It bites back. Also, I would say that Jimmy is like, lower than low. Yes, I get being mad at someone for making you look insanely bad, no one likes that being done to them, of course, but to take it out on them by making THEM look much worse than what they did to you? You're no better. Actually no, you're way worse! So, Jimmy's little victory? Yeah, disgusting in my eyes. I mean, I'm not saying you're in the clear Eddy, what you did was a little... yeesh, but compared to Jimmy? Two different levels my guy, I'm just gonna say that." Chris said, before laughing with Eddy.

"Do the kids always assume things in half-a-nanosecond? Holy..." Chris asked, due to him being baffled by the fact that the kids didn't even seem to have brains when they were in those situations.

"Don't worry, they don't anymore. I mean, of course Sarah and Jimmy do sometimes, but it's no big deal really. Everything changed after a situation when me and the boys were chased down after a scam went... really bad, tell ya the truth my man."

"You never told me about this..."

"Yeah. I'll say this though, me and the boys soon became good friends with everyone shortly afterwards. I just admitted that everything I did, everything we threw did was just an act because of my brother. I'll save you the details and just say he was just a jerk I shouldn't have followed, as everything he did I thought was perfect, but it just wasn't."

"I get ya man. Personally, I understand how you felt, following someone's shadow, I mean, I've never had a brother or anything like that, but sometimes you see someone doing things that work REALLY well in their favor, but for you it's not the same. It's best to take your own persona, because copying others is gonna be an act that dies quick."

Eddy laughed, agreeing with what he said, before then saying, "Yeah, I see what you're saying dude. It's funny because the other two have been the same mostly. Ed has always been the goof he is, but jeez he is impossible to deal with sometimes. Double D always blabs about sciencey stuff and honestly, I just let him talk because I guess he likes to hear himself chat."

"That's funny. I'll tell ya now, the person I talked to for the correction mixtures for the bombs and stuff was like that too, but hey, maybe to me Double D will be different, but who knows."

"Did you seriously never get into the romantic stuff with her? Sounds like you were into her!" Eddy asked, as he was curious.

Chris laughed a bit before saying, "Nah. Tell ya the truth, yes she was attractive okay, but I guess I just wasn't interested in that sort of stuff, because keep in mind my guy, I had to train and all for this martial arts stuff. So, I would've just been a ghost in the whole thing. It's not like I was wanting to go that route anyways too, so yeah. Again, I will say me and her still keep contact here and there. She was curious about how it's been since I've moved here, fun fact for ya."

Eddy chuckles before then saying, "I think I get ya. Would you try it now?"

"Hmm... perhaps. I won't get too tail-happy though. Patience my good friend, it will help. How about you? Any chances you've gotten?"

"Nah. I'm still waiting for my own shot. Gotta get all prepared."

"I just hope your not so picky about it. Trust me dude, the more the you expect, the less you get."

"You got any?"

"Nah. I just have to enjoy being with them really. Looks to me can go many ways, in my personal opinion. Either way, I mainly just look for a great connection between me and that persona. I mean, if it's about music... let me tell ya, it just might be the best thing ever!"

Chris and Eddy both shared a laugh at that, before the former continued, saying,

"What about you?"

"I'm just lookin for the best looking one!"

"Good luck with that... because from my experience, those relationships where you only care for the looks will not last very long. No offense Eddy, but a connection is important, because then you two are gonna grow bored or are just going to be flat out uninterested for each other. It sucks to think about the possible endings... but it's the truth."

"Yeah... maybe you're right in some ways, but I'll take my chances and i swear I'll make it work."

"I'll try to help you, if you do manage to get one working and all."

"Same for you."

"Thanks dude. Regardless, hey, look in the bright side, we have school starting, you have ALL the opportunities. Just be smart about it and don't be reckless. Trust me, like I've been saying, patience pays off. Always."

"I gotcha. But do you seriously not care for looks my guy?"

Chris laughed a bit before saying, "It's not that I don't care my guy! It's just that... how do I put this? You know how a book has a cover, right? You might assume things based on that cover... but the thing is, when you start to go into the chapters of the book... it gives you a whole new perspective on things. Like, you learn things about it that the cover would never tell you, because you went into the details! Not just the surface level of information. Look... what I am trying to say is, try to look at other things besides what you initially see."

"That was... actually pretty smart. I understood what you mean. Alright, I'm convinced you have a point. I'll see if I can do both."

"Trust me, you can. It's not an impossible task, it's just a matter of... patience, care, and most importantly, listening. Listen to the persona if you want to get to know them better than a basis level."

Chris and Eddy continued spent the next 40 minutes talking about stories from both of their lives. Eddy continued shared his random antics he and his other Eds would do sometimes, and Chris told Eddy some more stuff from his old place, such as more stories about the martial arts stuff, his school, and many other things. Eddy was lucky that Chris was cooled down by the first few minutes they initially started talking, because it was unlikely Eddy would've stayed and still talked to Chris if he was still being threatening to him, like he was with Double D. Nevertheless, the two boys were just having a great time, talking about the several different adventures they both went though in their times. Heck, it makes it seem as though they reached their 70s or something, but that is HARDLY the case my good lads. Either way, they both chat and all, but then they both realize that it's 8:40 PM, and that it would be smart to save anymore conversations for tomorrow in the morning, as they both planned to walk to school with the other two lads.

"Alright, I would love to continue talking my dude, as I've been enjoying having this conversation but we gotta get sleeping sooner or later."

"Yeah... I guess you're right. You cooled down though man?"

"Don't worry, I'm doing alright now. I'll have to say sorry to Double D soon though, kinda feel bad for being like that toward him. But this stuff gets you stressed man, you have no idea..."

"You know what, I'll go figure something out for you alright? Once I leave, I promise to talk to him and try to resolve the small thing between the two of you. You two are my friends, and I really hope not civil war occurs or something."

"Dude! You're being ridiculous! Even if it doesn't get resolved, the worst that can happen is we don't speak to each other for a week at best!"

They both share a laugh before they both leave Chris's room and start to walk to the door. Chris tells his mom,

"Mom! Eddy's leaving!"

"Ahh... Eddy! Bye!" Maria says.

"See ya Chris's mom! Thanks for letting me be here."

"No issue."

Chris then tells Eddy,

"Alright, see you tomorrow for school brother."

"Wait, I thought your mom only spoke Spanish?"

"She can speak English a bit, just not as much. Tomorrow, we will talk some more about that and hey, I'll even add in some other things while we get to school with the lads. For now, take care, alright?"

They both fist bump each other and say their goodbyes. Chris officially now gets ready for sleep, going to his room and taking off his jacket and putting back his mask. Chris then says, to the jacket,

"Well... still no rest for either you or me, is there? Ugh... you are gonna need a break man... jeebus."

Chris takes out the extra stuff he packed in case he had to do more to things than he wanted to. He simply put in a drawer on his desk to keep it as backup items, since he had no need for them at all. Although Chris knew he caused some damage, he was glad that he didn't have to use the taser, as he REALLY didn't want to use that, so there's... a small plus? Either way, Chris puts back the jacket in the same box as before, and so, he put the box back in the cloest, out of view. Chris was exhausted to the point where, at this point, it was enough, as he has now dealt with two fights in the span of two days, and he has made the tensions between the two groups worse in the span of two days. Rest, and more rest. He told his mom good night, and he went to bed. He thought about a couple things before he went to sleep, but right now there isn't more stuff for him, to do, for now at the very least. Then again, he knows that this is hardly the end for this feud. Sadly. Oh boy...

Why don't we go check up on Eddy?

Eddy had decided to go and talk to Double D to perhaps clear up some POSSIBLE tension between him and Chris, as he didn't want to have any problems between them. Besides, Eddy saw a chance to help out in someway, even if it be minor. Either way, Eddy went to Double D's house and knocked on the door. No response. Eddy rang the doorbell, since he presumed that Double D didn't hear the knocks. Still nothing. Eddy doesn't want to give up that easy, but he rings the doorbell three times in a row. Now? Double D opens the door, surprised to see Eddy at the door.

"Eddy? It's almost time to go to sleep. What are you doing here?"

"You and Chris doing fine? Wanted to make sure you and him don't hate each other or something."

"Ahh... well. I'm sure that he was just angry or grumpy at the time, trust me Eddy, I am sure me and him will remain friends."

"Yeah... that's good. He's just getting frustrated with the whole problem, because he seems to be doing everything, while we are doing very little." Eddy explains.

"Hmm... well, I can certainly understand his frustration, although it will take time for this problem is able to resolve itself. However it can."

Eddy shakes his head to agree with him, before he says, "Yeah. But my main thing is, you and him are fine right?"

"Yes Eddy, no issues from me."

"Good. What about Marie? I can tell you tried to talk with her, but didn't get the chance."

"Well... I suppose me and her need to have another conversation tomorrow. Preferably I plan to speak with her after school ends, as I doubt talking during class time is going to be the best of ideas. Speaking of school Eddy, have you prepared for it? You must your supplies and everything ready, as academic learning requires everyone to be fully prepared and aware for the information we learn!"

"Ugh! I'll be fine, all you need are just pencils, no!?"

"Eddy... that is so superficial. If you need anything extra, let me know before or during class."

"Fine. But I'll see you and the boys tomorrow in the morning, alright? We are in for a really boring ride."

"Of course, take care Eddy. And education isn't boring my friend."

"Yeah, sure it isn't, see ya Double D."

And so, Eddy leaves and goes to his home. Of course, he was sarcastic about the statement he told Double D, as Eddy has probably never enjoyed studies one single bit, as every time he is in class he just zones out completely, and just tries to find literally anything else to do. Heck, even Ed's rambling about monster movies and comics and several other similar things were more interesting to him than his classes. His grades... well, as expected with how he is with the classes, usually don't end well. Surprisingly, the school has given a pass, but if he continues... it's unlikely he'll get passes every time.

Right now however, he is currently sitting in his thoughts a bit while going back to his house, as he is currently thinking about Chris's stress. Eddy never would've expected to realize it, but now he sees the weight of everything being put on his friend, and that he, his friends, and the Kankers have to bury the hatchet, as Chris put it. Although, Eddy was just not sure how in the heck he and his crew were supposed to do that. Granted, he knows a solution will arise sooner or later, but the thing is... what will that solution be? Will it be that they flat out don't talk to each other EVER? Will it be that they get together? Eddy was curious of it the whole way to his home. He simply got ready for sleep, just like everyone else is, or is sleeping.

Everyone's gonna have a very odd start to the school days. Oh joy...

"Shut up already. I need sleep..." Eddy says.

I'm just... nevermind. Jeez.

_Author's note: Man... this chapter was quite the thing to write about! Anyways... why am I talking here? Well... I will say this. Ten Seconds To Love has reached the halfway mark of what I planned for it. I'm pretty proud of it, but of course things can be improved. No biggie, because there's always more that you can do. Anyways, this story still has more to say, so... I will see you in Chapter 21: Among The Living!_


	21. Chapter 21: Among The Living

Chapter 21: Among The Living

Let's go see what our lads are doing for school, as today was the day that everyone was going back to school. Everyone in the cul-de-sac, minus Sarah and Jimmy, were all going to 10th grade, and it was a bit of a step up from 9th grade for everyone. But that's not the main point, let's check up on everyone, as School is to start at 8:30 AM.

For Eddy, he woke up at 7:30 AM, but kinda refused to get up until 10 minutes or so later, and then he just got up and brushed his teeth before he proceeded to shower for around 10 minutes before getting all dressed up, wearing his signature yellow shirt with a red line, but wearing some jeans that were a darker shade of blue. He applied his usual gel that he would always apply, but didn't exactly do over summer, due to... basically having no reason to do so, unless say he went to a party. Either way, he puts that on, along with some body spray, although he "might" have gone overkill with the whole thing. Regardless, 8 AM exactly, and he decided to get the others to join him onto the trek to the school, deciding to skip breakfast.

As for Double D, he woke up at the same time as Eddy, but got up immediately to shower, and dressed up a little bit different. He still had his beanie that he always had since... who know how long, but he wore a black shirt and navy blue colored shorts, instead of purple. His red shoes still remained however, although he simply wanted to change up his look, just to give himself some change here and there. Either way, once he changed, he proceeded to brush his teeth, but after he had his cereal of course, because eating right after brushing his teeth would... well, not be a good mix. Although, while eating, he thought about Marie and him, because, now the situation is harder for her than it is for him. At the very least, his friends don't seem to have a problem with the relationship, after all, it's what Double D wanted in the end. But, what's gonna happen on Marie's side of things once her sisters find out? Little does he know that Marie told May, but lucky for him, May supports it too. Marie didn't mention this to him however, so... it'll be something to take in for him. Nevertheless, Double D had to tell Marie sometime that he would like to talk to her after school at his home, as they have, yet again, more things to resolve. One thing is for sure though my lads... he is not going to let this relationship go to waste.

For Ed... he got up randomly at 6 AM, and decided to not sleep and just watch movies until around 7:45 AM. He didn't even bother with a shower or a brush of his teeth, and he decided to still wear the same clothes he has been wearing for 2 weeks. He actually went into the bathroom... and forgot completely why he went in there. Either way, Ed went upstairs to eat some cereal just like Double D, but he seemingly threw it in a messy manner, spilling some milk in the process, and leaving some cereal pieces too. A clean breakfast, this is not. Regardless, Ed ate his breakfast and went to find his friends.

Lastly, Chris unintentionally woke up at 7 AM, when he meant to wake up 30 minutes later. Instead of going back to sleep, he simply said screw it, and started his preparations for school early, first showering, then brushing his teeth, and preparing his school attire. He wore a shirt showing Iron Maiden's "Fear Of The Dark" album, and put on a dark blue vest on top of it. To top it off, he put on some dark blue jeans to add to the look, and with black shoes as a last fit. Since he had some time to kill as it was 7:40, he spent around 20 minutes doing a few races on a video game, and once that was over, he grabbed some water from the fridge, along with a bottle of water to take to school. He didn't eat breakfast, mainly because since he brushed his teeth, it would mess with the taste, which annoys him. Either way, he goes out to find his friends. Although, he is not exactly fully confident to see what this day holds, considering the events of yesterday.

Once the lads all meet up...

"Ed! There ya are!" Eddy yelled out to Ed, who was currently walking down the sidewalk.

"Hi Eddy! Where's our other friends?" Ed asked Eddy.

"They should be coming soon. Surprised to see sockhead with ya."

"Hey lads, how's it going?" Chris said.

"Hey Chris, looking good my guy."

"Thanks. And Double D? Where's he?"

"Not to worry gentlemen, I am all ready." Double D, approaching the lads.

"Hey Double D. Sorry for how I acted yesterday, kinda went a bit off the edge..." Chris said to him.

"Not to worry Chris, we all have those moments of anger. Apology accepted." Double D responded.

They both share a fist bump, and with that, the four lads head down to the school, with the time reaching around 8:15 AM. When they approached the door, a paper read saying:

**_Please head to the middle of the building to find your schedules for the school year! :)_**

"Well gentlemen, we know what to do now!" Double D said.

"Alright then. Let's go!" Eddy said.

The boys head to where they are supposed to get their schedules, however they see a huge crowd of students gathering. This doesn't seem right...

"Hang on... shouldn't there be an area for the tenth graders?" Chris says, confused.

"Yes there is. Follow me good students." An assistant of the school told the boys. And, with that, they follow the assistant down the hallway, and up stairs, where it's shown that the 10th graders are supposed to go upstairs, the paper at the door failed to mention this.

"Great, already an error. Oh man..." Chris laughed a bit, but nevertheless, the lads went and got in their correct crowd to get their schedules. After a bit of waiting, around 5 minutes, they all got their schedules. Eddy then asked his friends,

"So guys, what we all got first?"

"I got Math first, in room B3. Great..." Chris said, obviously disappointed.

"Oh great, I have it first too!" Eddy said.

"I got Spanish guys!" Ed said.

"And I seem to have Spanish first aswell, in A8. Well, it sadly seems we won't spend the first class together gentlemen." Double D stated.

"Wait, the second classes?" Eddy asked.

"English, in A1." Chris, Double D, and Ed all said in unision.

"That's what I like! One class we all share!"

Chris continued to be read his schedule, until he sees that their break is after English.

"Third classes?" He said.

"I got Science!" Ed said.

"Same here Ed, which is in B8." Double D said.

"Chris? We all got Science, and you?"

"Hmm... yep! Same here my guy. Well, our labs are gonna be fun." Chris said, before laughing.

"And the last two classes after lunch?" Double D asked.

"For me that's Spanish and History, in rooms A8, and B1." Chris stated.

"Same here too Chris. Guys?" Eddy responds.

"Math, which is room A2, then History it seems." Double D says.

"Do two guys!" Ed said pointing at his schedule, which was the same as Double D.

"Well, we have an equal balance I suppose. Eddy, you and me are tag teaming it seems for the first class and the first class after lunch. I hope the teachers don't knock us for being kinda late..." Chris says, noting the time, 8:35.

"Not to worry Chris, the teachers understand if you aren't on time on the first days of school, as we are all adjusting and getting used to it." Double D said, reassuring Chris.

"That's good at least. Well, I guess we should head to B3 Eddy. See you guys at room A1!" Chris told Double D and Ed.

"Take care gentlemen! Good luck!" Double D told his friends.

"Same to you!"

Let's see Chris and Eddy's adventure to the Math class...

Chris and Eddy both went to their Math class, with both of them chatting about a couple things before entering. They enter and see that unfortunately for them, they all have assigned seats. The 10 tables, split 5 and 5, both had 2 chairs per table. The boys hoped that they shared a table, but... that wasn't QUITE the case. They were next to each other, but they both sat in the same row, which was the 3rd row, but different tables. So, Eddy sat in the right seat that was in the small hallway path splitting the tables, and same with Chris, but with the left seat. It was close enough for them, so they just took it for what it is. Eddy's partner, which, hey! Ended up being Kevin, so he was cool either way. Chris's partner wasn't there yet though. Probably late, he thought.

"Eddy, you ready? I think the teacher is coming up."

"Yeah yeah, let's get it over with."

"What's up Chris? Didn't see ya there pal."

Chris realizes Kevin is in the same class as them, and says, "Oh, hey there Kevin! What's up? Let's get ready for this lads. Even if I don't have a partner for this."

Oh, speak of the devil. Chris realizes someone taking a seat next to him, and... it's a sight to behold to him. He sees a girl with very dark red hair, that goes down to her shoulders. It's more crimson than anything. She is wearing a black sleeveless shirt, with a grey jacket on top, black jeans, and red white shoes. She is also wearing some dark red lipstick too, which seems to fit with her pure black eyes. Chris thought she looked amazing, but he had no time to think about that stuff, as he immediately caught himself and looked away, before he rattled himself out. Besides, the teacher just came up to the board, and started talking.

"Hello there guys and gals. My name is Mr. Muta, and today ladies and gentlemen, we will start our year with the new type of Mathematics. Hope you guys had a great summer! We will start by introducing ourselves, and providing a fun fact about ourselves."

And so, the class went like so, but Eddy, Chris, and Kevin occasionally had small, quiet convos between each other, but Mr. Muta told them to wait until at least the class ACTUALLY started, and to not interrupt. Before they realize it, Mr. Muta now proceeds to go to the boys.

"Alright, you, with the Iron Maiden shirt, your name and a fun fact about you?"

"Ah, well... my name is Chris and I'll provide two facts. One, this is my first year here, as I transferred from my previous school. Two, I've been a fan of heavy metal since I was 9, marking 6 or 7 years I've been listening to it."

"Pleased to meet you Chris. Also, that's quite some time you've been liking Metal. Hope you don't quit."

Chris gives Mr. Muta a thumbs up, before Muta moves on to Eddy,

"Your name and a fun fact about you?"

"Eddy, and a fun fact is I, love my cash!" Eddy said, with confidence and no sense of doubt in his voice, which gets the class laughing a little bit.

"An ambitious one aren't we? Well... don't fool yourself in the future Eddy. Pleased to meet you of course." Mr. Muta says before laughing a bit.

"Alright... next?"

"Kevin, and I guess you can say I enjoy fixing up bikes, it's something that's only for the rare."

"I bet. That's a good skill, I'm not gonna lie. Pleased to see you Kevin." Mr. Muta says.

The rest of the class behind the crew of 3 introduced themselves, and so, Mr. Muta decided to hand the whole class a piece of paper that asks the class questions about some things.

"Basically, the point of this paper I'm giving you is, mainly to understand your understandings of Math, as it's very important, as I don't want to just spit out nonsense to you guys, so... the more you write, the better I can learn you guys."

And so, Muta gives everyone the paper. Our crew of 3 lads started their work, and Chris got up to the last question, listening to music most of the time as he answered every question, until he was interrupted by a voice, who said to him,

"Iron Maiden, hmm...?"

Chris, confused, because he didn't hear the voice well, looks around before he realizes it's the same girl who is assigned to be his partner. Let's see how THIS goes...

"Umm... yeah. They're really great."

"My favorite album is probably Powerslave. Flash Of The Blade is the best song on there."

Chris's mind is blown away right now. Like... literally.

"What's your favorite?" the girl asks.

"Umm... Piece Of Mind. Yeah, that one! Where Eagles Dare is the best one in my opinion." Chris said, trying to sound confident, but he was obviously nervous as... he still think she looked amazing, and had a hard time composing himself. Oh goodness...

"What other bands you like?"

"Ahem... well... uh... hmm... I like... oh! Black Sabbath!"

Eddy and Kevin noticed what was going on, and Kevin, snickering a bit, says to Eddy,

"Yo, is Chris and that girl getting a little something going on?"

"He's getting into something." Eddy said snickering a bit, along with Kevin.

Back to Chris, the girl tells him, "Yes! They are incredible. Your favorite album?"

Chris pauses for a second before saying in a slightly low tone, "Master Of Reality, with the last song Into The Void being the best one."

"That's great dude. I love Vol 4 the most, and Under The Sun is the best one from there."

Chris is having a ridiculous time trying to focus on his words. But he realizes that he doesn't even know her name, or better yet because he wasn't listening during the intro of class, he missed it.

"That's great umm... what's your name?"

"You didn't listen during the intro did you?" She said messing with him.

"...no, not exactly... ya know..." Chris said extermely quietly.

"My name is Skylar."

"Hey Skylar, I guess you know my name already?"

"Yep. Chris, right?" She said smiling.

"Y-ya-yeah." Chris said, pausing between every letter.

Eddy and Kevin continued to watch and laughed a bit too loudly, to the point where Chris picks up on this and tells Skylar,

"Give me a second..."

He turns to Eddy and Kevin and says, "Guys, what's so funny? Hmm...?"

Eddy, laughing a bit more hard, says, "Nothing, me and Kev just came up with a great joke, I'll tell ya later..."

"Yeah! It's a killer one!" Kevin said, chuckling a bit too.

"If you say so." Chris says.

Chris turns his attention back to Skylar, and he is still not used to this. However, Skylar says,

"Your paper done?"

"Almost. Mind giving me a moment?"

"Sure. I'm done so, I can wait."

Chris finishes up the last question for his paper, which simply asked the worst part about Math. He gives his basic answer, and Skylar peeks over and sees what he wrote.

"Too much to understand with little explaination hmm...?"

"Yeah, I mean... maybe not in your case lad, but uh... trying to understand 60 concepts per class with small detail explaining the concepts themselves is just... no, that's just too hard man." Chris said, chuckling to hide his nervousness.

"It's fine, I can explain it more in detail for you if you need more help with it." Skylar offered.

"Hmm... sure, but Mr. Muta isn't teaching right now, so when it comes down to it, I'll take you up on that offer." Chris said, smiling a bit. Skylar smiles back at him too.

"Man... he might just have it with him!" Eddy said to Kevin, who were both STILL looking.

"Kevin, and Eddy, have you finished your papers?"

Eddy and Kevin were caught because... they didn't have a SINGLE thing written on their papers, because they spent too much time spectating what Chris was doing. Karma lads... it gets you. Eddy randomly says, "This work is too confusing!"

Muta laughs out loud and says. "Eddy, this isn't even Math! It's just questions for me to help you! Look, write what you can in five minutes sharp, got it?"

"Roger!" Kevin says, speaking for him and Eddy. And so, to sum up the whole time with the paper, the rest of class turned in their papers and Mr. Muta got collected them all and took them back to his desk. Muta proceeds to say,

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, I hope you got in your answers to these questions, and at the end of the day, I shall read them. For now, I'll allow you guys to have free time to talk to each other. After all, we are all just starting the school year."

Needless to say, the class IMMEDIATELY started talking the moment he said that it was free time. However, before anything else occurs, Skylar pokes Chris on his shoulder and says,

"What's your schedule?"

Chris takes out his schedule from his backpack, and shows her the details.

"Yeah. Next thing I have English. Along with my other friend there, Eddy."

Skylar passes Chris her schedule, and... his shock is unmeasurable.

"You and I have the same schedule. That's pretty cool, ask me." Skylar said, sticking her tongue out.

"...uhh... well..." Chris said, not knowing what to say.

"Why don't we talk about some more metal? How much do you know thanks to seven years? Hmm...?" Skylar said, attempting to change the convo.

The rest of the class was a blur to everyone. Chris spent most of his time having a long conversation with Skylar about several metal bands, and Chris was trying his best to try and not seem embarrassing, but good lord this was harder to do than say. Eddy and Kevin joked about too, but still poked fun at Chris and Skylar's little conversation. Well, if the studies aren't entertaining, the lads will have plenty of things to joke, fuss, and basically make the class entertaining. At least, when it comes down to the Math side of things.

Now that we've seen Chris and Eddy's side of the adventure... let's move on to Ed and Double D!

Ed and Double D went to Spanish class, which, wasn't going to be easy, like... at all, but they could only hope that the teacher wouldn't be heavy on the mistakes they both would inevitably make. Either way, Double D was up for learning it however, but Ed... yeah. They both go inside the classroom, and they are assigned to the front right seats, which, unlike the seats in Math, they are single chair and table. Luckily, they both are sitting next to each other, unlike the situation Chris and Eddy got in Math. Double D settles into his seat, but Ed asks him,

"Double D, do you have a pencil me can borrow?"

"Ed, didn't you bring your pencils?"

"I brought my comic books, gravy, and of course, buttered toast!"

"Alright, but try not to lose it, okay?" Double D told Ed.

Double D continued to organize his supplies for the class, which were mainly his pencils, and a notebook for this specific class. Once he is finished, he waits for the teacher, but he is broken from his thoughts until he hears a voice whisper in his ear,

"Hey."

Double D jumps up, but then he sees that that was just Marie, and accompanying her was May. They were both assigned to sit behind the two Eds. This could be slightly awkward.

"Oh, good morning Marie."

"Hey there, sorry for scaring ya." Marie says, before pecking him on the lips.

"Hi Double D." May says to him.

"Hello there May, hope you and Marie are well."

"We're fine. Hey, oven mitt, you got a second?"

Double D turns to her and says, "Yes Marie?"

"We need to talk after school at your home. Is that fine?"

"Funny enough, I was thinking the same thing. Alright Marie, I shall remember to talk to you after school is over."

"Cool." Marie said smiling at him.

Their conversation was cut early by the fact that the teacher came in, and began introducing herself.

"Good morning class. My name is Ms. Sofia, and I will teach you this next year of Spanish. I will start by asking you your name, and then ask you if you have any experience with Spanish."

The class presented themselves, and later on, it was Ed's turn,

"Gracias. And you, young lad?"

"Hello, my name is Ed. And I know umm..."

He quickly turns to Double D and ask him for a Spanish word, and Double D does give him one, but Ed doesn't hear him quite right, and then he says,

"Ley she?"

"Ahh... I think you mean leche, which is milk, young lad. But don't worry, we all take time to learn. Pleased to meet you Ed."

Ms. Sofia moves on to Double D, and asks him,

"What's your name?"

"My name is Eddward, or as I'm better known, Double D. For what I know about Spanish, I can say phrases for greetings and a handful of other things."

Double D cleared his throat before saying,

"Como estas Ms. Sofia?"

"So, I see you know the basics at least. That should help you out. Happy to see you Double D."

Ms. Sofia moves on to May and Marie, who are behind the two boys.

"Hello there blue-haired lady, your name?"

"Marie, and... I don't really know Spanish honestly. I know Hola, but that's about where it ends."

"Not to worry. If you need me to translate you something, don't hesitate to ask."

Ms. Sofia moves on to May, and says, "Hello, what's your name?"

"May, I am actually Marie's sister. I don't know much Spanish either honestly..."

"Well May, just like I told Marie, don't be afraid to ask for help, I'll be willing to provide it."

The rest of the class also introduced themselves, and Ms.Sofia said, "Okay class, I will now have you group up in groups of 4. Please pick who you would like to work with, I have an assignment, but it's not a solo assignment."

"Well, Ed, would you mind joining as partners for this?"

"You betcha Double D!"

Double D noticed that he still space for two more people, and so he turns to the sisters behind him and says,

"Would you like to join me and Ed for this assignment?"

Marie speaks for both her and May, "Heck yes! We will join!"

May wasn't fully comfortable with this, and neither was Ed, because they still haven't got used to each other, like... at all. The situation that they were in yesterday certainly didn't help either, but May tried to do as little as she could, by not annoying him. Ed didn't look forward to this, but he kinda realized that it would be too weird if he asked to join some other group. Regardless, Ms. Sofia assigned a task where within the group, two pairs in the group are assigned to make a conversation in Spanish, and it's a game of who can make the best sentence.

"Pick a person from the group you are in, and whoever makes the best conversation in Spanish, wins! Buena suerte!"

"Marie, would you like to partner up with me?" Double D asks.

Marie says to him, "Of course!".

She turns to May and whispers in her ear, "Try to talk with Ed okay? Just relax with it."

And with that, May goes and reluctantly pairs with Ed. She decided to start the conversation by saying, "Hey Ed. How are ya..?"

"Uh... o...k?" Ed said, pausing inbetween letters.

"That's good... umm..."

May was lost as to what to do, because if she couldn't get Ed to at least get on a basis to talk... oh boy, progressing this would be near impossible. Ed then says,

"How... does Spanish work?"

"It's just another way of speaking from what I know..." May said weakly.

"Really?"

"Y... yeah." She says.

"Is it just a... umm... a landscape?"

"Language Ed, not landscape." Double D said, hearing what Ed said.

"Ah." Ed weakly says.

"Do you know a word at least?" A curious May said.

"Umm... leche?" Ed said, getting the word correctly this time.

"That's milk, right?" May said.

"Hello, how is everyone doing?" Ms. Sofia said, asking the group of 4.

"Progress is going quite well." Double D said, speaking for both him and Marie.

"That's good. Do you need assistance, May and Ed?"

Both of them say yes to her, and she provides them with basic introductions in Spanish for them to practice a conversation with. May and Ed tried to make a conversation with each other, but the sense of awkwardness still stayed in the air between them. If it wasn't that, they didn't fully understand how to pronounce certain words. On the flip side, Marie and Double D worked together to get a basis for a conversation, and the latter helped the former with pronouncing certain words, as Marie mentioned before that she isn't the best with Spanish really. Either way, Ms. Sofia called up time after around 10 minutes, and everyone showed their conversations that they were able to make in Spanish. The winners ended up being a pair called Angel and Jacob, with Double D and Marie being 2nd place, and a pair called Zoey and Davie following in 3rd place.

"Congrats to the top 3! I would also like to appreciate the rest of you, class, for participating in this Spanish activity. I will allow you the rest of class for free time, enjoy!"

The rest of class, just like for Chris and Eddy, was a blur to our crew of 4. Double D spent his time explaining some more things about Spanish to Marie, as she had a mix of problems when it came to knowing the words, which also included explaining it to Ed and May, who then tried to talk to each other in such, but like previous conversations, it was awkward. It was a difficult process, but the both of them were taking baby steps to having a normal relationship between each other. That doesn't mean romantically, just normal for a start.

Once the end of Spanish comes...

"Alright class, thank you for your time. Please enjoy the rest of the school day!" Ms. Sofia said.

Double D turns to Marie and says to her, "What's your next class Marie?"

"English, May is also coming along. You?"

"Me and Ed share the same class aswell! Might we join you ladies, if that's okay?" Double D asked.

"Of course! Hey May! Double D and Ed are coming with us!"

And so, May nods her head, and Double D and Ed join up with the two Kanker sisters to English.

Wait! What about Chris and Eddy in Math? Well...

"Guys and gals, it's now time for you to go to your next class. Please leave and take care for the rest of the day!" Mr. Muta says to the class.

"Kevin, you coming with us to English?" Eddy asked.

"Nah, can't, I don't got that yet, I got Spanish next. I'll see you and Chris at break though!" Kevin told Eddy.

"Ah, alright! Chris, let's go! Oh... right." Eddy tells Chris, until he realizes that the former is still talking to Skylar.

"Right! Well... Skylar, would you like to join me and Eddy to English?" Chris asked her.

"Sure, I'd like to." Skylar responded in a low voice.

"Oh right, umm... Eddy, this is Skylar, and Skylar, this is Eddy." Chris said introducing the two lads to each other.

Skylar then says, "Yeah, I've seen him during the intro today. Nice to meet ya Eddy."

Eddy responds to her, "Pleased to meet ya! Let's go! We don't have much time, and I'd rather not have sockhead nag to me about being late."

"Roger." Chris says.

Eddy elbows Chris in his arm lightly and chuckles a bit, before Chris simply rolls his eyes. Eddy also maintained a certain amount of a neutral mood, because he secretly is poking fun at Chris, due to the latter's attitude when he was talking with Skylar. Eddy admits secretly too that she is pretty, but he's not fully interested. Besides... he is having fun poking fun at Chris.

This is gonna be a really wild ride... oh joy!


	22. Chapter 22: Are You Experienced?

Chapter 22: Are You Experienced?

Our two groups of people or so go to English, where, in there, the setup of tables is the same as in Math, unlike Spanish. The first group that makes it to the room is Ed, Double D, Marie and May. Their seating was actually free this class, so they were able to choose wherever they wanted to sit. Double D was asked by Marie to sit with her, and he accepted her offer. May asked Ed sheepishly to sit with her, and... to her utter surprise, he says yes. Weakly, though. And so, the two pairs sat in the top left two tables that were both facing towards the front, towards the board. There were 2 more tables behind them that were empty, as this class was a 8 and 8 seat class, which meant 4 tables per row. Ed then asked Double D,

"Where is Eddy and Chris, Double D?"

"Not to worry Ed, I'm positive they will be here soon. They might be revising the room numbers to find this class. Just hope that they didn't lose their way."

Funny enough, conveniently, the other crew of peeps enter in through the door. Eddy sees the sight of his friends... with his enemies. However, he decides to ignore this, because he is aware of Chris told him. Regardless, Eddy tells Chris,

"Let's sit behind Marie and Double D dude!"

"Alright sure. Hey, uh, Skylar? Wanna sit at the table behind us?"

"Sure. That's okay with me."

And so, the whole left row is taken by our crew of 7 people. Skylar took the seat behind Chris, and took the other empty seat by putting her backpack on it, and simply waited until the class started. Eddy turns to Chris and, teases him by saying,

"So... you thinking what I'm thinking...?"

"What?"

Eddy laughs a bit before whispering, "I saw you and Skylar, you like her do ya?"

"SHHHH!"

Chris said that kinda loudly, which... sort of gets Skylar's attention, but she chuckles at him.

"Oh jeez..." Chris says, as he can feel his energy shooting up a bit.

"Eddy, you will keep this between us. Yes, she's cute okay, I'll admit that one hundred percent. But I don't exactly know if I really like her like that, I don't even know her that well dude, I mean... yeah I got to know her a bit better during Math, but remember what I said... patience my friend. It WILL pay off." Chris said to Eddy in a very quiet tone.

"Alright... if you say so." Eddy responded to him, laughing a bit.

And so, with that, the teacher comes inside the classroom, and begin to introduce himself.

"Hello there everyone, my name is Mr. Araya, and I'm happy to see you all today. Please settle into your seats and as you've most likely have done in your last class, you will introduce yourselves and... as a bonus, say an album or song that you love and explain why. If you want to of course."

When the teacher introduced his name, Skylar and Chris chuckled slightly, as they both laugh because the last name of the teacher is the same as the singer of the band Slayer, which the two are big fans of. Regardless, the teacher said,

"Let's start with the left side of the class. Your name?"

"Hello. My name is Ed. Hmm... I like the song that has that name!"

"...what's the name?"

"Uh... Bad?"

"Oh... I see, you mean the Michael Jackson song? That's a good one. Glad to see you Ed. Next up?"

"My name is May, and... honestly, I like the same song as Ed."

"Alright then. Pleased to see you here May. Okay, next?"

"Good morning, my name is Eddward, but I go mostly by Double D. As for a good song... usually material made from Mozart, Beethoven, and many others similar."

"Ah, a classic one now, are we? Hope you have a good time Double D. Okay, who's up?"

"Marie, I'm actually May's sister, and as for a song, I like some stuff like The Misfts, Motley Crue and that type of stuff."

"Oh snap, a punk kid huh? No worries, just poking fun at ya. Happy to see you here Marie, hope you do well. Next up is...?"

"My name is Eddy, and as for your song idea... I would say She's A Lady from Tom Jones, it's what I like!" Eddy said, trying to sound more cool. Everyone laughed a bit, although not a "making fun of" matter, more just everyone found it funny.

"That's pretty funny Eddy, hahaha. Anyways, I'm sure this class will be fun with you in it, glad to see ya. Next?"

"Name's Chris, and... I'll give you three types of songs. There's the more angry songs like Slipknot's Metabolic, and there's more neutral cool songs like Motörhead's Crazy Like A Fox, and lastly there's the really fast lads like Slayer's Haunting The Chapel."

"Ah snap, a Metalhead, hmm? I'll ask some more questions later, but for now though, I'm glad to have you in this class. Next up, the lady in the back?"

"My name is Skylar. I like similar music to Chris, but also other sorta similar metal stuff like albums such as Kreator's Pleasure To Kill, Deicide's Legion, and other such stuff."

Chris turned to Skylar and gave her a thumbs up, and Skylar simply stuck her tongue out at him, winking her right eye in the process.

"Ahahaha! Another Metalhead huh? That's great, at least you'll both have something for a conversation. Happy to see you Skylar."

Marie saw what occurred and she asked Double D, quietly. "Is that Skylar chick hitting on Chris?"

Double D simply responded, "I wouldn't assume such Marie, for all we know they might just connect on music really well, and it makes them friends."

The rest of class introduced themselves in a similar manner, before Mr. Araya said, "Alright, here's the mini game for today. Based on what we heard about our favorite songs, we are going to play a game where you write down five songs on a paper, and we will put it out, and someone has to guess who that is. I will you the papers, and you will have around ten minutes to do so."

Proceeding with that, everyone got their papers and begin working on what songs to pick. However, once the timer began, Chris was poked in the back by Skylar, who said,

"I have a funny idea."

"Oh yeah?"

They did their little idea, with Eddy... both unintentionally and intentionally eavesdropping on their conversation. For the record, Eddy kept his promise to Chris, as strangely enough, this time, he wasn't jealous of him, he was more happy for him then anything. In fact, he was beginning to feel that same way for his friends in general, even Double D and Marie. After the conversation he had with Chris the previous day. It seemed to open up some more perspective on this whole thing. Eddy was soon catching himself daydreaming and began his work. Among other things going on, surprisingly, Ed and May were SLOWLY getting accustomed to each other, at least getting used to not having some weird chase 50 yards across the cul-de-sac. Either way, they both still had a while to go. Marie and Double D are just having a conversation about what songs they are picking, but they agree to not say the answer which their paper is picked up. Anyways, Mr. Araya says after 10 minutes, "Time is up everyone, please let me collect your papers to get this prepared."

And collect the papers, he does. Mr. Araya throws them together into a bin, and he randomly picks one. The paper has... a drawing of a monster fighting 5 knights riding on horses? Adding onto the fact that the drawing wasn't the best in detail, with some weird line along it.

"Umm... well, this isn't a song or music, but... hey! It works for this guessing game. Who's drawing could this be?"

May is the first one to guess, saying, "That's Ed, right?"

Ed simply said, "Yep. Ed is the one who drew that!"

Mr. Araya laughed before saying, "Well May, you're correct, as Ed just proved."

The whole class shared a funny laugh, but May blushed a tiny bit in her cheeks, which... catches the attention of Ed, who says, "May, why are your cheeks turning into ketchup? Are you okay?"

As if the last laugh wasn't enough, Ed saying that out loud made a roar of laughter rise, with Eddy, Chris, Skylar, and Marie sharing a laugh aswell. Double D chuckled at Ed's statement, but May? She only went more red. The class would've continued the laugh, but Mr. Araya says, "Class! Let's move on shall we, thank you."

Mr. Araya pulls out another paper and he sees... a normal paper. It's simply 5 songs, "Alright... who likes songs like Mommy, Can I Go Out And Kill Tonight, and Banned In D.C?"

This paper is obviously Marie, but Double D, of course, kept his promise to his girlfriend that he wouldn't spoil it, as it would be too easy. The one who gets the answer is actually Skylar, who says, "Surely that's Marie?"

Marie turns around and says, "Yep."

"Not bad. Those titles though... huh... ahaha." Mr. Araya said, before pulling out another paper, which had 10 songs on it?! "Hmm... there's ten songs on this one, so that means we have two people who grouped up to make this. Alright, this should be fun. Let me read the first row."

Mr. Araya clears his throat before saying, "The Wizard, Now You See It (Now You Don't), You've Got Another Thing Coming, Straight Through The Heart, The Trooper, and Follow The Tears. That is the first list."

Then Mr. Araya reads the second list, "Spill The Blood, Overkill III (Under The Influence), Over The Wall, Bonded By Blood, Tornado Of Souls, and Keep It In The Family. That's the second list. So... who is who?"

Double D chuckles a bit before saying, "Surely that's both Chris and Skylar."

"Well... yeah... but which list belongs to who?" Chris responds to Double D.

"Yep. We knows who's who." Skylar said.

Eddy attempts to guess, "I'm just gonna assume Chris, you are the second one, and Skylar's the first."

Mr. Araya laughs a bit before saying, "Eddy, you are correct! They actually wrote who's was who's on the paper, so, nice twist you two!"

"You're welcome." Both of the lads say together, before they fist bump each other.

The rest of class was just like Mr. Araya has planned for everyone, just that everyone's songs usually consisted of Rap or Pop type songs. The people who guessed the most during the rest of the period were Double D, Marie, and Eddy. Regardless, once Mr. Araya finished everyone's papers, he says, "Alright then, since we are done with that... I'll allow you to vote as a class, free time to chat, or one more game?"

"Either one is fine with me." Chris says,

"Alright then, everyone else?"

The class decided on another game, surprisingly, as they already had free time in their last class, and it would just be too repetitive to have free time every class.

"Alright... here's how it will work, We will make groups of 4 or 3 people, and you are going to produce a song. We will take 10 minutes for this, but I'll grant an extra 10 if we decide we need more time at the end. I'll be deciding who's song is the best. First thing, choose your groups!"

Marie turned to Double D, and surprisingly, she tells him, "I'm gonna go pair up with May, alright sweetie?"

Double D couldn't help but be curious as to why, "How come Marie?"

Marie doesn't respond, she simply only kisses him on the lips for a quick second, and says, "You'll see."

Double D chuckled a bit, before then deciding to ask Eddy, "Would you like to join up for a group Eddy?"

"Heck yeah! Chris and Ed! Come on over!" Eddy told the two lads.

"Alright. I'll talk to you in a bit Skylar." Chris tells her before going to join up with the boys. Skylar responds to him, "No worries. I guess I'll join Marie and her sister. See ya soon."

Skylar goes to Marie and May to ask them, "Can I join with you two?"

"Sure. Let's team up, since the boys are grouping up together." Marie said, snickering a bit.

And so, the boys and girls got to work on their songs. Let's first see how the lads are doing. So far, they are running into a block of what it should be about, Ed is suggesting an action movie inspired song, Eddy is suggesting a "pick-up" song for the ladies. Double D is suggesting a more calm, relaxed and possibly romantic song, and lastly Chris is simply suggesting a more mysterious type of song. In comparison, the ladies, Marie, May, and Skylar settled on... a topic that they all agreed on, but kept as a secret. Marie then tells the girls, "I got a funny idea. Watch."

Marie shouts at the boys, "Hey boys!"

Eddy hears her and says, "What do you want?"

"We challenge you to see who's song wins! You accept it or..." Marie says, speaking for her crew. Double D chuckles a little bit at his girlfriend's challenge, but Eddy was feeling more competitive, and said, "Ha! You're gonna lose! What's on the table!"

"The losers have to get the winners their lunch at lunchtime." Marie said, laughing, along with Skylar and May.

"Oh jeez... that's not even that much for a punish-" Chris almost said, before Skylar cut him off, by saying, "...for the whole week."

The girls laughed a bit, with Double D and Chris being kinda embarrassed, while Ed still doesn't understand what's going on really. Eddy then shouts at them, "IT'S ON NOW!"

But the problem with what Eddy said is... THE LADS DON'T HAVE A THEME FOR THEIR SONG! The ladies already have their theme, so, if the lads want to stand a chance, they better get something down quick.

"Alright, here's what I propose for our song. Maybe we should try to mix our ideas. But let's be sure it will make sense." Chris said, before Double D proceeded to add onto his statement,

"Sounds like a plan!"

Eddy then says, "What's the title gonna be?"

"Maybe... Pawns VS King?" Chris suggested, before Eddy said,

"What?! That sounds boring! Is it gonna be about chess?"

"No, dingus. You'll understand when we get the song down. Here's the plan, I will do the chorus, Ed, you will do the first verse, Double D will do the second verse, and lastly Eddy, you will do the bridge. The ending can just be the chorus." Chris told the crew.

"To work it is my friends!" yelled out Ed.

Meanwhile with the ladies...

"So, we got it down?" Marie said.

"Yeah, you are doing the chorus Marie, I'm doing the bridge, and Skylar, you are doing the verses?" May responded, and with Skylar saying,

"Yep. I gotcha."

Marie decides to tease her and say, "Don't try to be impressing him now."

"What?" Skylar said.

Marie laughs a little before saying, "I'll tell ya more later, let's do this. They won't see it coming."

Mr. Araya comes over to the ladies and says, "I saw that you three did a bet with the four boys over there. Just for fun, I'll play into your game and I'll decide between who is the winner. Good luck."

The girls shared a laugh, as to them, they were confident in their own idea that they shared. Maybe a bit too confident. Anyways, 15 minutes later, everyone submitted a song, with the bonus 5 minutes thanks to our two crew's little challenge. Mr. Araya said, "Alright, first thing is first, we have a little challenge between two groups. The first one is Ed, Double D, Eddy and Chris, and the other group consists of Marie, May and Skylar. Can I please have the first group go first?"

Double D said, "Gentlemen, it is time to go up!"

"Let's hope this works... oh man..." Chris said, before he told everyone, "This song is called 'Pawns VS King' by the by."

And so, our lads moved up to the front of the class, before they stood there, until Ed decided to begin reading the lyrics he wrote, which... well...

"Our enemies are coming! The pawns go across and about! They fight through the Knights along the board! All along the Queens and Horses! They fight and fight!"

The whole class shared a laugh at Ed's part, and he clearly misunderstood the song as it talking about Chess... so his lyrics were adjusted to that. It was time for Chris to read the Chorus, as that was his part. He clears his throat before saying,

"The crown of mine is cold and heavy, I ain't the saint, I ain't the truth, I'm just the heart of cold ended lies. Fighting through my fights to save my own self, while I look around my vision."

Chris passed the paper of the song to Double D, who's part was the second verse, and so, he began to read.

"The one who follows the path that is least unconcealed isn't always following the most nonpareil road. He who learns his choices with more curiosity, and takes the paths not always shown to them, shall matriculate themselves more with knowledge."

The class was pretty interested in that lyric, as it had more meaning than the last two sections. Anyways, Chris read the chorus again, and it was now Eddy's turns for his lines.

"Taking my winnings with me back to the throne, I sit and watch my own story unfold behind my own head, but also on my eyes, and the wife just gave me the proposal. I am sitting with my winnings, and feel a sense of accomplishment."

To top it off, Chris read the chorus one last time, and the whole class clapped for the crew. Mr. Araya asks, "I assume the parts were written by the person who read them? So, Ed, you wrote the first part?"

"You betcha!" Ed said, with a silly smile.

"Well... I must say that, Double D, your part was REALLY well done. Chris, you were second, and Ed, along with Eddy... we will see if we can find some improvement. Overall, the effort is well done. Could use some polishing? Yes. But hey, it was fun!" Mr. Araya says, then laughs pretty loudly.

"Alright, ladies, your turn."

Chris pokes Double D on the shoulder as the boys return to their seat, and says, "We are screwed. But I doubt they made something that great. No offense though."

"I wouldn't be so certain Chris, the ladies seem to have a trick up their sleeve. Let's see what."

Skylar begins to speak, "Okay, so, this song is called 'Can I Give It?'"

Eddy says to the boys, snickering, "This will be an easy win."

Skylar begins reading the first verse,

"I have this titillation that I wish to share, for you only, yet I don't feel quite ready. I'm just stuck in a contingency thought that would keep me in a euphoria, looking into your clear open mind."

Everyone was INSTANTLY interested in what the girls made, and then Marie starts speaking her part, which is the chorus.

"Looking into your sweet eyes, I had a moment where I saw a person to consider trusting with my heart. But can I give you it without you taking it and breaking it?"

Yeah... the lads are not feeling very confident right now. Or, most of them, as Eddy thinks that it's mostly a simple love song. Regardless, Skylar begins speaking again, as she had to do both verses,

"Let me explore your mind, my interest of the persona underneath your skin intrigues me. I wish to see who I'm truly giving my all to. Safer than sorry, yes, but I'm the one who feels."

Eddy whispers to the lads, "This is cheesy, we will surely win!", but Double D simply tells him to shhhh, with the other two not paying attention to him. Either way, Marie reads the chorus once more, and then it's now May's turn to read her part, the bridge.

"I know I'm not the most perfect, but all I ask is just one chance to trust you with me. Life isn't long enough to think everyday, I just wish to be with you by your side, day in and day out. Please?"

And Marie reads the chorus to finish up the song, and everyone claps a LOT louder than when the lads finished their song. Mr. Araya claps too, and says, "You three did an amazing job. All the parts connected extermely well, and it feels like it has emotional weight to it. Now, I know you, and the group of four boys did a challenge... but before I say who won in my eyes... Class! Vote who did better. Raise your hands if you say the boys."

The only person who voted was Eddy and... that was it. Of course, Mr. Araya laughed, but he wasn't gonna count that, as... shouldn't it be obvious? Either way, he then says, "Okay. Raise your hand if you say the girls."

In what seems like nanoseconds, the whole class raises their hands, minus the two groups, because... they can't vote. Either way, Mr. Araya nods his head, before he says, "Alright class, my vote for the winner is..."

Chris jokingly taps his hands on the table, as to imitate a drumroll, and Mr. Araya, chuckles, but then says,

"Marie, May and Skylar, you three win this little challenge!"

"WHAT?! Oh come on! What made theirs better than ours?!" Eddy says, flabbergasted that his group lost.

Double D sighs before he explains, "Eddy, for one thing, their sections were much more connected to each other than ours, and their theme was consistent throughout the whole thing."

"But ours was more cooler! Their song was just a love-"

Chris cuts off Eddy by saying, "Dude, I'm pretty sure Mr. Araya wasn't exactly considering the topic. He was looking for our structure, how we connected things, lyric meaning, that sort of stuff. Just accept it okay? We lost, and there's nothing else we can do here really. Their song was pretty good though, can't lie."

"The last part was cool!" Ed said randomly, although he clearly didn't understand what the song was truly about.

"Well, it seems you four have to get us lunch for the whole week." Marie told the boys, with the other two girls laughing a little.

"Ugh, fine! It's not the worst thing ever I suppose." Eddy said, obviously annoyed that he lost.

"Alright, now that your little challenge is done, may the rest of the groups present what they have?" Mr. Araya said.

The rest of class presented the songs they managed to produce, and once everyone provided their songs, Mr. Araya lets the class vote on who's was the best, and, surprisingly, Marie, May and Skylar's song won yet again, with everyone else getting around a handful of votes, and Ed, Double D, Eddy, and Chris getting none.

"Wow..." Chris says, simply flabbergasted.

Skylar sneaks up behind him and says, "I think I know who's getting us lunch, hmm?", which causes Chris to yelp and jump a bit, as he wasn't expecting that at all, and then afterwards it begins making the class laugh, and he responds,

"WHAT THE!? DON'T DO THAT YOU... Ugh..." Chris didn't even finish his sentence.

This causes the class to laugh a bit more, and Skylar simply chuckles at him, before sticking her tongue out, and winking again.

_"Well... she's someone to get used to..." _Chris said in his mind, as, he won't admit it, but he finds her playful attitude... attractive? Was it attractive, funny, or something else? Either way, he didn't exactly mind this, but it was quite the embarrassment in hindsight.

Skylar goes join Marie with May, and she tells the former, "Seems like they now get us our lunch for the whole week."

"Yep. Double D, come over!" Marie says, and of course, Double D comes over to the two, and he asks them,

"Yes Marie?"

"So, ready to take our lunches for the whole week?" Marie said seductively, which made Double D insanely nervous, as yeah, he should be expecting this behavior from her, but him being used to it is something else. Either way, he says,

"As long as you don't request something of absurd quantity, it will be in my manners to provide!"

"Relax dude, we won't order something ridiculously expensive or enormous, we aren't intending to stress you four out." Skylar said.

Eddy then said, "Come on! And besides, who am I supposed to deliver food to anyway? Wait... HA! I'm off the hook! There's only three of you, and four of us, so it doesn't work!"

"What are you going on about this time?" Chris said.

Eddy explains to Chris, "Ed is gonna deliver for May, Double D for Marie, you are delivering for Skylar, and me? I'm free!"

Double D sighed before saying, "Eddy, you forgot about Lee. She simply isn't here today."

Eddy's expression of excitement turned into annoyance, "NO WAY! I'M NOT DELIVERING HER ANYTHING! ESPECIALLY AFTER-"

Chris quickly covered Eddy's mouth, because he knew what Eddy was going to say. Chris then says, "SHHH!!!"

Eddy removes Chris's hand and rephrased his sentence to just say, "Forget it! I'm just not gonna do it, stupid bets..."

Chris facepalmed before saying, "You were the one who got all four of us into that bet, not me, Ed or Double D."

Eddy simply ignores him as he sits in his chair, and Chris rolls his eyes, and decides to turns his attention to Skylar,

"So, for the whole week eh?"

"Yeah. I don't order that much stuff, so you'll be fine dude." Skylar says, playfully punching him in the arm.

Chris laughs a little before saying, "Alright, if you say so."

However, May had to talk to Ed about the whole bet, since he WAS included in this whole thing. She simply approaches him and says, "Ed? Umm... are you okay with this whole thing?"

To May's utter surprise, Ed responded to her saying, "May has Ed's word of... promise? For delivering food!"

"Okay, just wanna make sure you are good with this..." May said, before waving her hand to say bye, and Ed waves back. May had gone back to join up with Marie and Skylar.

Everyone goes back to their original seats, and Mr. Araya simply says, "Since we have some extra time, you all are free to talk, and play around a bit!"

And that, everyone does. Chris speaks to Eddy about the whole bet, as basically everyone came to an agreement about the whole situation, but Eddy kept refusing the whole idea.

"Dude... remember what I told you? The whole conversation idea? Yeah, act like this and that will never happen."

Eddy groans before explaining himself to Chris and saying, "I can do that conversation, but being a slave? No thank you."

Chris couldn't help but laugh at what Eddy just said. Slave? "Eddy... you gotta be kidding... I can't even believe you just said that... wow."

Eddy gets more annoyed and tells Chris, "Lee makes me feel that way! I am not doing her chores!"

Chris cooled down a bit, but still chuckling at Eddy's over-exaggeration, "Alright, on a more serious note, seriously, just go with it. After all, it could be way worse, in fact, I feel more lucky than anything, because what if we were forced to do their homework?"

"You know... you got a point. Alright fine, I'll do it as long as Lee doesn't order stupid things." Eddy said.

When it comes to the rest of class, everyone simply talked about random things before break officially began. Mr. Araya said, "Okay everyone, it is now 10:40, please go and enjoy your 15 minute break! See you tomorrow!"

Eddy says to the boys, "Let's go join Kevin and the others!"

"Sure thing. Marie, I will see you when?" Double D asks Marie.

"I have Science next, so..."

"Funny enough, I have that aswell. So, I shall see you later then?"

Marie kisses him and hugs him at the same time, before saying, "You will."

Chris, before leaving with the crew, tells Skylar, "See ya in Science then."

"Sure." Skylar responds, chuckling a bit, before they both do a fistbump, and so, they all leave the class.

Skylar asks Marie as she's leaving class, "Mind if I join up with you guys for the break?"

"Sure, that's fine. Come on." Marie responds to her.

Let's see what the lads are doing first, shall we?

Ed, Double D, Eddy and Chris went to the basketball court, where they found Kevin, Jonny, Nazz and Rolf all at the court, playing basketball, minus Nazz who decided to watch.

"Hey Kev!"

"What's up Eddy? How did your class go?" Kevin asked him. Chris simply answered that for Eddy, saying,

"You sure you wanna know?"

Kevin laughed before saying, "Did dorky get himself in trouble with a chick?"

"Chicks. More like."

Chris explained the whole deal to Kevin of how, Marie did a bet where whoever writes the best song wins towards him and the Eds, and Eddy, being hasty, accepted it, and they couldn't get a good song down in time.

"So let me get this straight, Eddy picked a fight that he very clearly wouldn't have won, and he got mad that he lost?" Kevin asked, dumbfounded at this situation, which was hilarious to him.

"Yep. And now guess what? We have to deliver their lunch for the whole week. Ed for May, Double D for Marie, Eddy for Lee, and me for Skylar."

Kevin laughed a bit, and also did Rolf and Jonny, before Kevin proceeded to say, "Wow, so you guys are basically slaves now? Eddy really threw himself out there, huh?"

Eddy groans before going to the two and saying, "Oh come on! How was I supposed to know they could make a 'better' song than us?"

"Just let it go man, jeebus... alright, I gotta go use the restroom. Anyone know where it's at?"

"Let me show you Chris." Double D said to him.

Double D and Chris go to the restroom, while the rest of the crew stay at the basketball, and Eddy tells Kevin, "You should've seen what Skylar did to Chris, scared him during class."

Kevin laughs a bit, saying afterwards, "Man, my guy has his shot. Hope he takes it sooner than later."

"Tell me about it!" Eddy says.

Speaking of which...

Marie, May and Skylar went to the cafeteria, which was open and the lunch people were offering mainly fruits, veggies, cereal, and milk for the cereal. The three girls decided to skip the snacks, as they didn't really want them really. They sit down near the end of a table, and Marie asks Skylar, "So, why did you want to join us? Not that I mind."

"First day here, tell ya the brutal truth. So, can't really say I know where to go and stuff..." Skylar responded with a little bit of a tired tone. She then asks Marie,

"I heard from... Double D I think was his name, that a Lee wasn't here. Is that another sister of yours or a friend...?"

Marie, not knowing how to explain why Lee isn't here to Skylar, says, "Sister. She's sick, but it seems she'll be ready for tomorrow. Thank god we got her schedule, or else we'd have to bother the office about it."

Skylar nods her head and says, "Makes sense. Wonder how she would've reacted to the bet. Nice going by the way."

The three girls share a laugh at that statement, before Marie then says, "Yeah, glad that those boys don't really mind. Expect Eddy, as usual."

"What's his deal? It's not like we are forcing him to do every daily activity we do for us!" May says, before sharing a laugh once again.

"Yeah. Chris seemed fine with it. Eddy though... he is so ridiculous though." Skylar said before chuckling a bit. Marie figures this as a perfect time to tease her, by saying,

"So, you and Chris... hmm...?"

"What?"

"I saw how you eyed him! I'll keep this as a secret, don't worry."

Skylar shrugged a bit, before saying, "Okay relax. He seems nice and all, but I don't know him THAT well yet to decide that stuff yet. Give it time, alright?"

Marie rolls her eye at her, and laugh a little too. Marie then says, "Alright... surrree. And May? Seems like you and Ed are getting more used to each other."

"Yeah, but it's still hard... do you think I'll have a chance?"

Marie slaps her sister in the shoulder; before saying, "Of course! Tell me right now, did you ever expect Double D to get with me, ever?"

May nods her head to say no, before Marie says, "Exactly. Trust me, just try to have more conversation with him, and he'll come around, and heck, you might have a boyfriend!"

May smiled a bit at that statement, before saying, "Do you really think so?"

Skylar joined in and said to May, "Heck yeah! May, it's all about patience and connection, just don't rush it, take your time with Ed."

The two girls were trying to cheer up May to get more confident in terms of talking with Ed, as it seemed she needed it, and Marie and Skylar were more than willing to help a friend out, or in Marie's case, a sister out. Either way, the two girls spent their break talking to each other about random things, whether it was things about each other, May and Marie asking Skylar questions about herself, and many other topics.

Back to the boys...

Eddy, Kevin, Rolf and Jonny had been playing a game where it consisted of Eddy and Kevin vs Rolf and Jonny. So far, the game was 1 to 1, and whoever won the next point won the thing for their pair. Double D and Chris also came back from the restroom, and joined up with Ed and Nazz, who simply decided to watch, as the former had something on his mind. But he was soon broken out of his thoughts when his friends came back.

"Hi Double D and Chris!" He yelled out.

"Hey, we are back now. At least they don't make the restroom a process to go to. Oh goodness man... that was so bad." Chris said to Ed.

"What's going on now?" Double D asked, as he saw Eddy and Kevin teaming up against Rolf and Jonny.

"Sockhead! Just trying to get-"

Eddy was cut off by the fact that Rolf shot his shot at the basket and made it, making him and Jonny win the whole thing.

"Rolf shoots to win, yes?" Rolf said out loud.

Kevin groaned a little at the loss, and Eddy just walked away from the court and joined his crew again. Before he could speak, Chris asked, "Please tell me you didn't bet something again... we already have enough with the girls, we don't need anything else mate."

"No! We're fine, it's just what does a guy gotta do to win something around here?! We are always losing!"

Chris laughed a little before saying, "I think it's just that you are picking fights that aren't for you. Writing songs? It doesn't seem like your thing my dude. Besides, the girls seemed to have their idea down on paper much easier than we did ours anyways."

"You know Chris, I never thought about it, but was there a secret message within the song?" Double D told Chris. Ed then brought up,

"Gentlemen, we must know that the ladies simply want to show their affections for certain people, whoever those people might be. They simply worded it in a more thought provoking way." Ed said joining Chris and Double D's conversation.

Everyone simply stared at Ed with eyes wide open, as him saying something like that seemed very... unnormal. That's not even a word.

"Ed, you there?" Eddy said, snapping his fingers in Ed's face.

"Hello Eddy!" Ed responded. Everyone simply chuckled at him, not fully understanding where the song was coming from. Chris then says, "Maybe I should ask Skylar during Science. Double D? Ask your lady what the song meant. That is if she has Science with us of course."

Double D told Chris, "Now that you mention it, I'm not certain if Marie has Science with us. I guess we shall find out once it starts."

"Alright. I know Skylar has Science, but let's see for the other two. Speaking of which, is it almost time for class?"

The bell rings, which lets everyone know to start heading to class now in order to be on time and not be late.

"Speak of the devil." Chris says, then laughing a bit.

"Time for Science fellows!" Double D told his crew.

And Science, it is.


	23. Chapter 23: Make My Day

Chapter 23: Make My Day

Our group of 4 lads went to their Science class, which they all had together. If anything, it was going to be the biggest collaboration class. Why? Well, not only do the Eds and Chris have class together, the Kankers are also there, Skylar is also there, and so are the rest of the kids. So it was just a huge collection of everyone from the cul-de-sac, and man oh man... it is gonna be an event. Regardless of that craziness, the lads are the first to arrive, thanks to the bell. And look here! Free seating! The crew immediately went and took the seats to the right, similar to English, expect this time, Double D and Ed sat together, due to the girls not being there yet. Chris and Eddy shared seats yet again, and later the girls themselves come in. Skylar and Marie decide to share a seat together, with Marie telling May to wit on the table behind them, which now meant the right side was full now. The rest of the cul-de-sac peeps came in and Kevin and Nazz shared a table together, with Rolf and Jonny taking the table behind them. The other people in this class also arrive, and the class is all there basically.

"Alright! Everyone in the gang is here!" Eddy said.

"This will be fun." Chris responded to him, laughing a bit.

Meanwhile, May secretly wanted to pair up with Ed again, but she was too shy to ask Double D if she could. But she decided to fight it and walks towards him, and then ask him,

"Double D?"

Double D looks up and sees May, and says, "Hello May, how can I assist you?"

"I'd like to... sit next to Ed."

He quickly realizes that yeah, this wouldn't be an issue normally... if Ed wasn't panic infused like he usually is near her. Double D, although uncertain of how this will turn out, decides to be nice and say,

"Sure thing, where do you sit so I can move?"

May points towards her seat, and Double D proceeds to move. Granted, he got to be closer to his girlfriend, so it wasn't a complete loss, it's just... he can only hope Ed continues to make progress with May, as this will go nowhere if he keeps freaking out. Marie turns around to his seat, and says in, yet again, a seductive tone

"Hiya muffin. I see May wants to be near Ed, but I ain't complaining if you are closer."

Double D has been through this dance, per se, several times, but he still isn't used to it. Nevertheless, he smiles back at her, blushing in the process. Marie kisses him on the cheek as another part of her hello. Double D then gets reminded of the conversation he and the lads had during break.

"Marie, mind if I ask a question?"

Marie turns back to him and says, "One kiss!"

Double D's shock was pretty high when he heard that, but he actually decided to do so, to please his girlfriend in a playful manner.

"Yes?" Marie says.

"Marie, what did your song in English mean? I've been curious about this."

Marie proceeds to say, "Well... are you asking for what I wrote or all three of us as a whole? Because I can't really say for May or Skylar."

Double D kinda realized that she had a point, because yeah, they worked together on it, but that didn't mean they knew everything that went through their minds between each other, did it? Nope. Double D simply says, "I think I'll be fine hearing your part's meaning."

Unfortunately, Marie was unable to speak, as the teacher came in and was about to start speaking. She quickly turned to him and said, "Tell ya at lunch okay?"

And so, the teacher begins introducing himself. "Good morning to everyone here. My name is Ms. Sonya, or just Sonya, and I really hope you guys are ready and prepared for our class of Physics. I shall start class by asking your names so that I can take note of that."

"Huh... no secondary activity like the previous classes." Chris said.

The whole class basically introduced themselves, but not with the same energy as previous classes, as... well there wasn't a secondary activity like favorite song, or something like that. Then again, perhaps the teacher was saving an activity for when they were done. Anyways, the teacher begins speaking again,

"Okay. Now, I have an activity that involves pairs, but first, you will receive a paper that provides five certain scenarios related to physics."

Ms. Sonya proceeds to pass everyone a copy of what she said, and then she goes back to the board and says, "Alright, now you will pick someone to work with. Please take around 3 minutes to do so."

Eddy was poked in the back by Skylar who said, "I know you've worked with him for a bit now, but mind if I work with Chris?"

Eddy snickered a bit, before responding to her, "Sure. Chris! Skylar wants to work with you!"

"Oh! Yeah sure. Hope you don't mind Eddy." Chris said, surprised at what he heard.

Eddy laughs before telling him, "Don't worry. I'll go pair up with lumpy or sockhead."

"Actually Eddy, me and Marie plan to work together on this. You might have to pair with Ed, unless he decides to work with May." Double D told Eddy. Unfortunately for Eddy, May already asked Ed to be his partner, and surprisingly for her, he accepted it. This kinda caused a problem for Eddy, as he doesn't seem to have a partner to join up with.

"Eddy, join us for the meanwhile. I'm sure Ms. Sonya will not mind a group of three people." Double D said to Eddy, and Ms. Sonya tells the group of 3, "Yes, that is fine. No worries."

Ms. Sonya then begins to speak about the assignment itself, "Alright everybody! So, what you are going to do is answer the five questions on the paper, then you will go and find another pair and check your answers with each other. Take around fifteen minutes for this, but if you need more time I will allow another five minutes. Good luck everyone!"

Let's take a look at all of our groups. Wow, we have many sides. Eddy, Double D and Marie are simply asking each other questions about the material, and Double D is the one who is primarily getting down the answers for the group, although he certainly didn't mind answering the questions his partners had. Ed and May were simply lost as to how to get a basis for what the questions even asked, to the point where Ed decided to draw random monsters fighting, what he assumes in his head, the things mentioned in the questions. May would've stopped him, but she actually finds this pretty amusing to watch, as she wonders just what exactly he thinks in order to write what he wrote down. Either way, she decided that it was much easier to let him be silly. Lastly, Chris and Skylar didn't understand much, so they just guessed their way through the whole thing in less than 3 minutes. Yeah... not the best way to get everything right, but those two didn't seem to care about that. Especially, strangely, Skylar. The two peeps decided to just do a game where they would play a song for 5 or so seconds, and they have to guess what song that is. Luckily, Chris had his phone with all songs that they would know, and so they could alternate between any song.

"Wanna try?" Skylar said to him. Chris nods his head in approval. And so, she plays 5 or so seconds of the song "Kickstart My Heart" by Motley Crue. Chris laughs when he hears the guitar intro, before he takes off his headphones and tells Skylar, "That's obviously Kickstart My Heart, or their anthem as I like to call it."

"I would vouch for Shout At The Devil itself, but hey, that works too. Shout At The Devil is my favorite album from them so that's why I say that." Skylar tells Chris, before he says,

"Mine too. Alright, next?"

Skylar plays the first 5 seconds of the Black Sabbath song, "Snowblind". Chris thinks for a moment before saying, "Huh... is that Snowblind from Vol 4?"

"Yep! Man, how often do listen to this type of stuff!?" Skylar says poking fun at him, laughing in the process. Chris blushes a little before saying, "Quite a bit, but... yeah. Next one?"

Skylar decides to change it up by telling Chris, "I'm going to play the song at a random point, just to switch it up alright?"

Chris nods his head as to say yes, and Skylar puts on Metallica's "The Call Of Ktulu", and skips to around 6:21 on the song, and plays the 5 seconds that follow. Chris listens only wonder, before then saying, "I know that's a song off Ride The Lightning, because I recognize that guitar tone."

"Well, you got part of it, but what's the song itself? Huh...?" Skylar said in a sly tone, which makes Chris slightly nervous, but he says,

"It's either The Call Of Ktulu or... uh... actually no, I think it's The Call Of Ktulu."

Skylar claps her hands and says, "We have another winner! You know your things man, I like that."

Those words kinda hit Chris in a strange way, but he keeps it away from her by saying, "...yeah, but ya know."

They go on to do more songs, and then Skylar switches roles with Chris about the whole game. Either way, they spend their time doing that for the whole time until it's time for the pairing up with another two people. But let's see what Ed and May are doing.

"What's the drawing supposed to be Ed?" May asked Ed

Ed simply passes the paper and says, "The Insectoids of Mars are coming down to attack the so called frictions of earth, because they have stolen their fellow friends and now they must be destroyed! It's a civil war between them!"

May simply chuckles a little at his silly imagination, then says, "Huh... who's gonna win?"

"The Insectoids are more complicated than you think, as they sneak in the flowers, they sneak in the bushes, they sneak EVERYWHERE!" Ed said, making his ridiculous scenario, even more ridiculous. Of course May is having a good time, even if it doesn't exactly help either of them understand the physics stuff. May then brings up,

"Let me just guess the questions for us, I hope Ms. Sonya doesn't mind the fact we just guessed..."

And so, they finish their paper, in the same way that Chris and Skylar finished their paper. Again, probably not the best way to get everything right, but did they care? Just like the other two, nope is the answer you are looking for lad. Anyways, since 2 out of 3 groups are done, why don't we see what Eddy, Double D and Marie are doing?

"Sockhead, any updates?" Eddy asked to Double D.

"Almost done Eddy, just reading what it is saying about friction." Double D tells Eddy, which causes the latter to roll his eyes, while Marie watches in admiration. Eddy, bored, stares at the other groups to see what on earth they are looking. He sees Ed is surprisingly getting more and more comfortable with May, which shocks Eddy, knowing how Ed is usually with girls. Then he turns his attention to Chris and Skylar, which he snickers a bit, as in Eddy's personal opinion... Chris is just trying to deny what he feels. But he does respect his decision to wait a bit, after all, he couldn't be a puppy about it. As much as Eddy felt glad for his fellow lads, he kinda realized that he was more of a 3rd wheel in a lot of this. He decides to dismiss this, as Double D speaks up and says, "Alright, the paper is done!"

"Finally. Now we just wait until the teacher says it's time. Can't it just be lunch already?" Eddy said, getting a little impatient with class. Double D rolled his eyes, before saying,

"Eddy, with that attitude class won't progess. Have patience, it will end soon enough."

"Class! Time is up! Here's what's going to happen now. You will find another pair to team up with, and you will revise each other's answers. Take another ten or so minutes for this." Me. Sonya tells the class.

"DOUBLE D ED-BOY!"

Rolf ran to Double D, in order to get assistance from him with the work. Accompanying Rolf was Jonny with Plank, as they all decided to work together on the paper. Naturally, Rolf simply asked Double D for help, and he was glad to help. So, they paired up in the end, but what about the other two groups? Well, funny enough, Chris and Skylar teamed up with Ed and May on this... which isn't a good combo, as they both did the same thing for the paper. So, they all decided to goof about, since... what were they all supposed to do? The time passed by quite quick for everyone, as Ms. Sonya once again spoke.

"Class! I shall now reveal the answers to you all. Please listen closely and I will also explain the reasoning to why the answer is correct."

Surprisingly, Ed, Chris, May and Skylar got 3/5 correct, though each group got a different 3 correct. Still, impressive! Double D, Eddy and Marie got all answers correct, but the reasoning as to why is pretty obvious. Or who. Anyways, after explaining every question to everyone in class, Ms. Sonya says, "Alright. Thanks for your participation in this activity. For the rest of class, you can have it to yourselves. Just don't be crazy now."

The rest of class... well, wasn't very eventful per se, it more similar to what happened in the previous class. Double D and Marie share their moments, Chris and Skylar talk about some more heavy metal, Eddy joins the latter two, Ed and May talk more and more, and it's a generally good time for everyone, even if it's getting slightly too familiar. Regardless, Ms. Sonya says at around 12 PM, "Everyone, it's time for you to go to lunch! Have a good rest of your day."

"Alright! Guys, let's go!" Eddy tells his crew, but...

"Excuse me! Did you forget something!" Marie said out loud.

"What?!" Eddy said, obviously forgetting about the bet from before. Double D shrugged a little before telling him,

"Eddy, we have to get their lunches for them, because we lost the bet. We will share a table with them, I'm sure it will be fine."

Eddy get irritated at this, but Chris comes up to him and says, "Why are you even mad? Your person isn't here. Did you forget?"

That shot Eddy's mood up, as he said, "HA! SEE YA AT THE TABLE!"

And Eddy runs to go claim a table for everyone before anyone else. Chris kinda laughs at that, before he decides to join Skylar and tell her; "So, what's the stuff ya want for lunch?"

"I'll see what they have, and you can bring it. Don't you dare forget now." She says, playfully. Chris responds by saying,

"Don't worry, I won't."

When everyone goes to the cafeteria...

The girls saw that the lunch menu was actually pretty great, but they ordered 3 things each, and told the lads what the specifics of what they wanted were, and so, they got it for them. Minus Eddy of course, who just kept teasing them. Either way, Eddy sat on the edge of a table, with Chris taking the seat in front of Eddy. A few seconds later, Skylar took the seat next to Chris, and Double D and Marie sat on the side Chris and Skylar were on, with May and Ed sitting on Eddy's side.

"Alright, honestly, this whole getting your lunch thing isn't the worst thing ever. Not something I'd do everyday, but it's not the worst per se." Chris told Skylar, turning towards her.

"Ha! Come on man! I'm not trying to hurt you or make life harder on ya!" Skylar barked back at Chris in a joking manner. Of course, he isn't used to this type of stuff; so he had a hard time being neutral about the whole thing. Afterwards, Marie asks her boyfriend,

"So, is this _too_ much for you?"

"To be perfectly honest, it's not too bad. As Chris previously stated, it's not the most detrimental thing in our universe." Double D told Marie, before she then goes in for a kiss on the lips casually. Of course, he returns the quick, yet sweet kiss, afterwards Marie says,

"Glad to hear sweetie. As long as handling food isn't too difficult for you to handle."

Double D felt embarrassed by that statement, but he knows that she's just joking. Right? Right. Anyways, then May asks Ed about it, saying, "Did you get bothered doing it Ed?"

Ed didn't answer the question properly, saying, "It was delicious!"

May of course, didn't really mind this mistake, in fact she kinda laughed at his silly response. Eddy of course, didn't have anything to be asked, since he, again, didn't have to deliver anything. Chris poked fun at him saying, "Someone has their freedom for now."

"Oh be quiet. I'll keep it! Forever!"

Everyone shared a laugh or chuckle, as it STILL seems Eddy won't let this whole thing about him losing the bet go, and it's pretty obvious that he is going to deliver the food tomorrow, because god knows what the girls will do if he doesn't. The rest of lunch was more samey for the rest of the group. Everyone simply talked about the joyous things in life, made fun of certain things, and everyone enjoyed the company really. It was becoming more normal for everyone involved really. For example, and most importantly as a matter of fact, Ed seemingly has little to no fear of May. Granted, he's probably more used to the fact that she isn't attempting the whole absurd romantic advances of before. Another example was Eddy, he wasn't really having his feuds with the Kankers. Well... at least with Marie and May. Granted, Eddy doesn't quite consider them FRIENDS friends yet, but at least he's cool with them. Lastly, Double D and Marie were getting more comfortable showing the relationship in public. But to their surprise, no one really raised an eye at them being together. Which, hey! Helps them both out, so neither of them were complaining about it. However, it was now 12:55 PM, and class was about to start, so the bell rang to help students be earlier than normal.

"Ah great. Lads, it's time to go. Eddy and Skylar, we have the same class, which is Spanish. Let's get going." Chris said.

"Alright. Ed, May, Double D and Marie? See ya all later." Eddy told the other 4 peeps.

"Take care you three! Everyone, let's go to Math!" Double D said to his crew.

Well, to sum up the classes for the two crews, it was basically the same experience for both, with some differences. Such as, Chris ended up helping Skylar and Eddy with Spanish speaking, spelling, understanding, and many other things, which surprised both of them, but to Skylar's admiration. In Math, since there was no assignments for actual Math work, it went similar to when Eddy, Skylar and Chris had it, although Rolf, Jonny, and Nazz were there that time. So, in general, it seemed mostly the same for them, that is, until they all went to History. While seating was similar to Science, as before, Ed sat with May, Marie with Double D, and this time, Chris and Skylar sat together, with Eddy siting behind the two. He didn't mind this, so it wasn't a problem really. Along with the other kids of the cul-de-sac sitting on the opposite side of class. The thing is, when they all arrived and sat down, the teacher was already there, unlike their other classes where they simply waited for the teacher, he was already there.

"Good afternoon everyone, my name is Mr. Wayne and today is the beginning of your tenth grade history year! To start our introduction, I will ask you your name, and your favorite history period to learn about."

Everyone just introduced themselves, and the time periods most people mentioned were the eras of the two World Wars, or usually, for easier context, eras that were 1900 to now. Mr. Wayne then says to the class, "Thank you for introducing yourselves. I will mention a couple things to know for this class, and your other classes. When you get your work during class, yes you will get homework, but the way it works is, if you weren't able to complete it in time, it will be added as more homework. You won't lose any credit of course for that, but finishing the work earlier will help you out. Aside from that, work will usually be done in here. For right now, I will allow you free time to have conversation, and get to know each other better."

"Well, that wasn't very eventful. I suppose we can discuss a couple things, right Marie?" Double D told his girlfriend.

Marie turns to him, and says, "Sure. But remember, I'll talk to you about... the secret stuff at your home, okay?"

And so, Double D and Marie spend their time telling each other several things, meanwhile...

"Man... this day has been going for forever honestly." Chris said out loud, due to boredom.

Skylar elbows him and tells him, "Whatcha plan to do once you get home dude?"

Chris kinda gets caught off guard by this, so... he simply said, "Probably play some racing games, or go take a listen to some metal."

"You actually like racing games?" Skylar said, excited, which surprised Chris.

"Umm... yeah. Been playing them since I was a little kid really. How come?" Chris asks.

Skylar kinda shrieks in excitement, but Chris is still confused.

"Skylar, uh... what does that mean exactly?"

"Dude! I like racing stuff too!"

At that point, Chris's energy shot up DRASTICALLY, but he quickly cooled down, in order to not sound too excited. Little did he know, Skylar was doing the exact same thing. Either way, he says, "Ahh... really? What's your favorite?"

"Probably the Gran Turismo series of games honestly. The first one is iffy to me, honestly, but the rest are awesome for me."

Chris and Skylar then proceeded to talk about racing games, along with any metal they noticed in any of the games. Unbeknownst to them, Eddy was hearing everything, and in his mind, he was pretty confident that his friend wouldn't really have an issue. As, they connect like two correct puzzle pieces. Speaking of connecting...

"May! What's your favorite ruler of the... lands?" Ed said, randomly, not fully knowing how to ask her something like that. May chuckles before saying,

"I don't really have one honestly. They all seem the same!"

May then went on a whole tangent of the whole thing, with Ed surprisingly listening, expect when he made a joke or two about something May said about a ruler or whatever. Before everyone knew it, it was time to go home!

"Alright everybody, please enjoy your rest. See you all tomorrow!" Mr. Wayne said to the whole class.

Everyone basically ran out to the front of the high school building, and some went to go get things from their locker, but most already had their supplies. Eddy tells everyone in his crew, "So, what's the plan? Hangout at someone's place?"

Chris offers and says, "We can do my place if you want. Play some games or watch some stuff."

"Perfect! Ed and Double D! Later on we are going to Chris's house." Eddy tells his two pals. Before they all went home, Chris went to say his goodbyes to Skylar for the day.

"So... I guess this is bye for now, eh?"

"Yeah. Don't worry. I'll see you tomorrow." Skylar says to him.

"Alright then. Hope you take care." Chris says, smiling a little. Skylar then gets an idea, but first says,

"May I?"

Chris, not understanding what she is implying, says, "Not sure what you mean... but sure?"

To his COMPLETE surprise, Skylar darts toward him and hugs him. Although taken by surprise, Chris, deciding to be nice and all, gave it back. After about 6 or so seconds, Skylar lets go and says, "I'll see you and everyone else tomorrow then. My parents are waiting for me at the parking lot, so yeah. See ya all!"

Everyone waves their goodbyes, and Chris is seemingly shocked beyond belief.

"Ha! I can already sense what you're thinking!" Eddy says, teasing Chris.

"Eddy please! Have some respect for their privacy. For all we know, they could just be really great friends." Double D said, annoyed at Eddy's assumptions. Marie whispers in his ear and says,

"He seemed like his happiness shot up though. Well, it's his and her choice though, not mine. Oh yeah, Double D? 7:30 PM okay? I have things to do aswell. See ya sweetie." Marie then leans in and kisses Double D, and of course, he returns it. Meanwhile with May,

"Ed, it was nice being with ya most of the day."

Ed says, in a really goofy tone, "Fun it was, a pal and pal had their fun!"

"So, I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Tomorrow, will see!" Ed says, while doing a classic military salute, where he puts his hand over his head, and raises it in the air. May laughs and responds,

"Okay. Bye!"

And so, the two sisters went onto their homes. Eddy goes to Kevin, who was outside, and says to him, "Hey Kev! You joining us on the way back?"

"Nah man, I'm waiting for Nazz and Rolf. They are taking a bit. I'll catch you and the others soon!" Kevin said to Eddy. Since that was the case, the boys decided to wave goodbye to him, and onto the cul-de-sac they went. Double D then says, to his crew,

"So when are we meeting up exactly? Because I cannot accompany you at around 7:30 PM."

Eddy then asks Chris, "Is 5 PM good for us to meet up?"

Chris doesn't even respond, as he keeps walking forward. Then, when it hits him, the fact that Eddy asked a question, he says. "Yeah, yeah, that works for me."

"Alright! Be sure to bring the snacks and everything guys!" Eddy tells his comrades.

"Eddy, we can't be settling into school like this. We have our obligations to do our duties for school, and-" Double D got interrupted by Ed, shouting randomly,

"COOKIES AND MILK!"

"Dismiss what I was going to say." Double D said, obviously slightly disgruntled at the ideas the lads were sharing.

"Hey, calm down. We haven't started our work yet, so we can do stuff until then. When it does start, I promise we will take it seriously. Right guys?" Chris said to Double D, with a response from the other lads simply being, "Right on!"

Double D simply chuckles a bit at the whole teamwork thing going on. Although, he was hoping that what Chris said wasn't just a "reassurance", and was more of a truth. He could only see once the actual work started anyways so... he'll have to wait.

Everyone arrives at the cul-de-sac, and the crew split for now to rest a bit before they do their whole little party/hangout at Chris's house.

But... many, many things remain to be answered. Oh yeah...


	24. Chapter 24: 5 Minutes Alone

Chapter 24: 5 Minutes Alone

At around 5 PM, the boys met up at Chris's house to have a random but fun hangout session. They spent their time actually watching really terrible movies as a joke, which, made all 4 of the boys laugh really hard, as they watched the terrible acting, obnoxious music, hilarious plots, eye-rolling special effects, and other flaws that you can name for movies, which are QUITE A LOT. Chris and Eddy kept laughing at the bad parts, Ed seemingly... enjoyed it? Then again, his movies usually have budgets of what seem to look like your average cup of coffee, not by a studio. Anyways, Double D, being the persona he is, simply pointed out the flaws in detail, which didn't really bother the other lads, as Double D said his observations after the movies were over, not during them. After around 2 and a half hours, it was around 7:45 PM, and the lads decided that they had enough of the terrible movies, plus, Eddy almost hurled on accident due to laughing too much. Now THAT would be a sight, heheh...

"Alright my friends, maybe another day we can continue this, as this just hilarious, hahaha!" Chris said, laughing still.

Everyone shared another laugh, and Eddy chimes in and said, "That stinks, but I get ya. Let's go guys."

"Take care Chris!" Double D told him, along with Ed too.

"No worries my friends. See ya!"

And with that, the Eds split to their homes, all good home in a good mood, as the movies were simply too funny in an ironic way. Either way, Double D, upon entering his home, found something strange. There were bread pieces leading towards his room as he followed them. He was confused, because is there any reason why he would leave this stuff, leading to his room, even?

"That's strange..."

He follows the bed crumbs to his room, as he thinks that, perhaps there's an answer there? It would be ridiculous if say, an army of pigeons invaded his home. That would be excessive for him to handle. Once he enters his room however, he finds... nothing? Well, okay, not EXACTLY. He finds more pieces of bread of course, but he finds a FULL piece of bread on his blanket, with writing? It is with mustard that says, "_Turn."_

Double D is afraid to do this, as this sounds more like a serial killer move. But... it isn't. It's just Marie, who snuck in his home somehow. And, what a shocker, he kisses him, and just like last time, she falls onto him on his bed, and continues to kiss him. Double D is chuckling in his mind, as he decides to return the favor to her. After a minute or two, she says, "Someone is late."

"My deepest apologies Marie. Me and everyone else got caught up in the time we spent watching movies, as it was quite the enjoyable and hilarious ride, dare I say." Double D explained to Marie. Marie laughs at him, and says,

"I getcha sweetie, no problem. Like my trick?"

"Honestly I thought someone had broken in and was attempting an assault." Double D said while chuckling a little. Marie grins at him, saying,

"Well, you got it easy with me, don't ya?"

Double D just shakes his head as to say yes, before Marie laughs at him. She then tells him, "So... there's quite a lot of things to talk about. Can we talk for a while?"

"Sure, considering it's not as late as before, we have more time to speak with each other. Before we talk, mind if I get us some water?"

Marie says yes, and Double D goes and gets two glasses of water for him and Marie from his kitchen. A couple seconds or so later, they start to talk about the several things that need answering.

"So Marie, how is Lee after... well... what occurred on Sunday?"

"Well... I'm surprised that she isn't needing us to help her move. She is actually surprisingly good enough for school, just some band-aids and stuff. I hope to god she doesn't cause reckus in school. Mr. Antonucci I heard is quite the principal. I'll make sure she doesn't act up, specially with Chris. Jeez... just what has to happen for her to not react in an angry manner?" Marie told Double D.

"Honestly Marie, I'm not certain as to why Lee keeps acting this way. Especially since every time she proceeds to do so, it ends up in failure, and her sustaining several injuries. It's not going to benefit anyone, and I'm beginning to get concerned for her wellbeing," Double D explains to her. "Plus, are you sure she can handle the whole situation?"

Marie laughs a little, before telling Double D, "Ovenmitt! Relax! She can take the hits, but her problem is simply... jeez, she thinks she's supergirl or invincible. But trust me, I told you before, but she doesn't screw around with me or May. But she likes to win, but doesn't like losing. I can only hope she quits this, because at this point she's like what, two for zero?" He chuckles a little before stating,

"That's quite true, although you also have a point with who's won the most. Let's just hope she doesn't freak out, although I believe that, unfortunately, I cannot fully assist with this." Double D said, slightly upset. Marie simply hugged him tighter than she already was doing, and tells him,

"Just calm down, okay? I will handle her. If nothing else, I can't even begin to imagine what else can happen with school started and all. And tell ya the truth, I DON'T want that." Marie said, raising her tone at the end of her sentence. Double D, slightly concerned, decides to simply deliver a kiss to her forehead, although he was nervous doing so, as he's hardly done this stuff before. He then brings up,

"Marie, are you sure we will be able to keep this whole thing between us going? I am very concerned as to-"

Cut off by a kiss to the lips. What else could Double D expect? Either way, Marie tells him afterwards, "Don't be silly! I only expect issues from Lee and that Kevin dweeb, but I'll manage them, don't you worry. Even then... sweetie! Think about it! Who would have an issue outside of who I said?"

Double D realized that he felt kinda awkward, but at the same time, he was glad that he noticed in time. Realistically, Marie was correct. Nazz? She usually never picks fights or pokes at others. Only rarely has she done that, but not noticeably anyways. Rolf? He would at most question how it happened. Jonny and Plank? They would just think it's either normal or strange, but nothing insanely serious to them. Sarah and Jimmy? Well, Sarah might be slightly jealous, because she likes Double D a bit too, but not as much as Marie always has. Jimmy might not even be aware of the fact that it's an Ed and Kanker dating, and decide to celebrate instead. May? Well... she actually knows, but she's actually proud of the whole thing for her sister. As for anyone else, it's already obvious that Ed, Eddy, Skylar and Chris are fine with it, so that's basically it. Although, Double D asks Marie, "Has anyone else found out about the whole thing?"

"May. Don't worry, she is fine with it. I wanted to tell you earlier, but I forgot. I told her sometime after we finished talking on Sunday. She's actually happy for us!"

Double D's nervousness spiked up for a moment, but as soon as Marie explained the whole situation, he calmed down, and was happy. At least May won't be causing them problems. Marie then says to him, "Although... I guess Skylar found out too, but I'm sure she won't mind at all. She's a cool girl though." Double D responded,

"I haven't fully spoken to her, but it seems you and her get along well."

Marie laughs before saying, "I can't say as much as her and Chris!"

"Marie, while I might understand the implications of romance between them, they seem to only be great friends for right now. It's their decision if they decide to either become a couple or not. But I will say, I will support both of them. Also, didn't you and May invite her to lunch and break?"

Marie says, "Yeah. Skylar's actually new to the school like Chris. So, there's something they share in common."

Double D chuckles a little before saying, "Marie, I have a question for you."

"Yes?"

"Do you ever plan to tell Lee about this? I would like to know ahead of time if you do."

Marie sighed and said, "I don't know. If you wanna know why, it's because she just doesn't like things when they aren't in her own vision. I don't hate her for that, but when it comes to say, if we go on an actual date, or go somewhere together... do you actually expect her to just be fine with it? She's my sister, always, don't expect me to forget that. But, I just wish I could to talk her sometimes, as..."

Marie doesn't finish what she was saying, as she seems to start becoming more distant. Double D only could do one thing that could, MAYBE, calm her down, at least in his mind. Which, was simply to kiss her on the lips. Of course, she returns this to him, and it goes on for a whole minute, until Double D says, "Marie, you don't need to rush into it. Take the time as needed to explain everything. I would also like to add that conversation might open the doors to undiscovered reasoning behind certain actions done by Lee. I can only hypothetically assume of course, but only one person can explain it. And that would be Lee."

"You and those long words!" Marie said to him, chuckling a little. "Yeah, I get what you're saying. I'll think about it, after all, we have yet to go on a date."

Double D actually gets curious about something that's important to him, so he asks. "Marie, I am curious, when did the change in your behavior come around?"

Marie sits for a few seconds and breathes in before saying, "Well... honestly? I kinda realized that this whole... I don't know what to call it, I guess the whole thing, chasing you guys around, was just getting really old. I realized it around 4 months ago, but even before I was getting less interested in that, and more interested in YOU, if that makes any sorta sense. But, then when Chris moved in, and he said that you were dating someone, I didn't even know how to react. Yeah, I know I pummeled you to the ground, but let me tell you, I only did that because Lee most likely would've wanted us to. Then, when the pranks happened, I thought that simply... you didn't like me, and it would've never happened. So, when Lee told me the first time around to kidnap you, I decided not to. I figured I should've just been honest now, since it wouldn't have mattered either way. But... then you came with the truth, which I'm thankful you said. Hope you know that."

Double D smiled at her, saying, "Of course Marie. After all, the drama that was being started was getting out of hand, as while I suppose Eddy and Chris made up clever plans, there always comes a limit. Plus, I didn't like that stunt, and it was just at that point where, enough was enough. I shall admit, I am happy that it led to this. I'm really admiring your secret side Marie, and I wish to progress this further with you."

Marie proceeds to smile back towards him, and say, "Man, a date between us though? That's a dream for me."

Marie stares at Double D with a grin, but he just got an idea for himself and Marie, thanks to what Marie just said. It was true, the two lads had not gone on a date, and when it comes down to this sort of stuff, it was important, wouldn't you say? Anyways, Double D gets an idea for that, which he tells Marie by saying, "Speaking of which, Marie, I would like to invite you to a... oh dear... a dinner night?"

Marie's mood shot up into excitement, but she says, "Really? When? I can do anyday, I just gotta plan out an idea for an excuse and all."

"Would perhaps tomorrow work? At around 6:30 PM."

Marie thinks for a second, and she tells him, "Yes. It's a date!" Of course, Double D blushes at the sound of those words, and in fact, let's process this. Marie Kanker, the punk looking girl of the three Kanker sisters, is going out with Double D, the most nerdy, smart one of the three Eds. Dogs and cats are friends now. Anyways, the two of them decide to enjoy each other's company for another 30 or so minutes, after which Marie told Double D, "Alright, sweetie I gotta go. Even if I don't want to."

Double D shares a chuckle at her, and says, "Me aswell. Alright then, let me walk you to the door. Speaking of which, any... so called requirements of this... 'date', we've got?"

"Hmm... that you show up is good enough." Marie tells him, before sticking her tongue out and kissing him. Of course, while Double D noticed that there weren't HIGH beyond high standards for this date, he still wanted to prepare more than just the base level, as he wants to treat her right as much as he is able to. Of course, he knows that he can't do EVERYTHING, as Marie has her parts too, but even then, it is at HIS house, not Marie's trailer. Anyways, Double D walks Marie to the door from his room, and once she's outside, he says, "This bread idea is very strange Marie, where did you get this from?"

"At our date, I'll explain, okay? Good night sweetie." Marie says, hugging Double D and kissing him to say her goodbye. Double D of course says goodbye to her, and so, he locks his door, and heads up to his room, happier than happy, so to say. Once again, just like back when he asked her to be his girlfriend, he felt like he just accomplished something incredible for himself. He finally was able to ask a girl out for a date, something that he, just like before, would never, NEVER had expected to do. All he had to worry about was the decor and his looks at most really. Literally NOTHING on this ridiculous planet could down his high. Or, make him less happy. Or... you get the idea, he's just really happy.

As for Marie's point of view, she was also just shocked, but in a way that made her feel incredible, and on Cloud-9, so to say, She had expected HERSELF to be the one to ask him to a date, not the other way around, but a problem, this was not with her. Either way, she is currently thinking of ideas for what to wear, as she simply assumed automatically that Double D was going to attempt a fancy feeling to the date itself. Even if it wasn't the most fancy thing in the universe, Marie would still be fine with it. After all, she didn't exactly begin to like Double D for "fancy" things. Regardless, she kept thinking about what to wear still, but she decided to perhaps ask May for help. One thing is for sure, if May decides to pull a stunt... let's just say that it will a miracle if May doesn't need life insurance afterwards. Smoothly transitioning back to Marie's own thoughts, she kept thinking and thinking about the whole date. While yes, she is happy, she still finds it hard to believe Double D did this. She is very much proud of her "Ovenmitt", "Sweetie", and other names she calls him.

Huh... talk about a romantic stage, eh?


	25. Chapter 25: Caught In The Middle

Chapter 25: Caught In The Middle

The main event today for the people was Lee was actually here, as she was still recovering from... what occurred in Chapter 20, but she was recovered enough to go to school, which was important to her either way. Regardless, the whole crew didn't have a class together until both English, Science, and History. Either way, when it came to English, the seating was switched up a bit. Marie and Double D decided to split up, in order to keep the whole thing between them a secret from Lee. So, Double D decided to sit with Ed, for English, and the rest of their classes. While that was a minor setback, Marie remembered that she had to let Lee know about the bet she did with the boys. She told Lee right before lunch that the boys owned them a week of getting their lunch, and who was bringing who's lunch. While Marie might have been occupied with that... well...

"Ugh, why did she have to return? I was doing just well!" Eddy said.

Chris rolled his eyes in annoyance before saying, "Dude! Just do it to get it over with. Complaining about it will only delay and delay, so shut it, and get ready to get whatever she wants."

"Ugh," Eddy said. "Fine. It better not be a lot!"

The bell then rings, and a certain someone goes behind Chris, covers his eyes, before saying, "Who is I?"

Chris chuckles a little before saying, "Hmmm... Skylar?"

"Yep! Let's go!"

The two peeps go to the lunchroom, and Eddy joins Double D and Ed saying, "Great. Here we go again, delivering food!"

And that, the boys do. It was mostly the same as last time, minus the fact that Lee was there this time. As for where the group of nearly 10 peeps sat, Eddy, Ed, Double D and Chris sat on the left side, while Lee, May, Marie and Skylar sat on the right. Unsurprisingly, the crew were mostly quiet, as unspoken tensions filled the air really. The person who didn't understand what was going on was Skylar, as she actually hung out with the sisters again, and met Lee being the break, and Lee was fine with her joining her sisters. She didn't care much, but she didn't have an issue with it. So, Skylar is currently confused beyond confused. She then decided to talk to Chris, but first she says to him, "Psst. Can we talk in private for a bit?"

Chris simply nods his head to say yes, and they leave the table for a second to go outside. Eddy sees that and whispers to Double D, "Look at them. Man... it's just speaks for itself doesn't it?"

"Eddy please, we've had this discussion already."

Marie hears what's going on, and says, "You heard him Shorty! Quit assuming!"

Eddy only grunts and rolls his eyes, before continuing to eat his lunch.

Chris and Skylar go outside and she asks him, "Why is everyone so... silent?"

"Well," Chris says. "I honestly do not have a single clue. They were talking a lot last time. Perhaps there's something we don't know? Wouldn't be surprised, tell ya the truth."

Skylar simply tells him, "Are you sure? Did Double D, Eddy or Ed do something?"

"No. If they did I would've known by now."

"Okay," Skylar says. "Are you certain it's not the bet? That was just for fun, but I'll tell ya right now, if you don't wanna do it it's fine."

"Oh my goodness Skylar, NO." Chris says. "The bet isn't part of it. Plus, I like to keep a word, and stop exaggerating the bet. I can give you the food, it's really not a problem with me. I can promise you that."

"Ah... okay." Skylar says, before deciding to end the conversation by saying, "Let's go back and join them. Okay?"

"Yeah sure."

Skylar and Chris simply share a chuckle between each other, and they both decide to return to the table with their friends. Eddy welcomes them back by saying, "Where were you guys?"

"Skylar had questions for me about something." Chris explained. "She was just curious, and so... she asked me. Nothing more to it then that... really."

"Yeah." Eddy says while laughing. "I'm sure that's all that occurred."

Chris rolls his eyes, again in annoyance, but Skylar is actually a little embarrassed. However, Marie comes in and hits Eddy in the face, saying, "Careful what you assume shorty! It's THEIR business, not yours!"

"Whoa!" Chris says. "Marie! It's fine! Don't go all out on him! Eddy, just relax with that stuff, okay? If for no other reason, then just so Marie doesn't pummel you. Alright?"

Chris helps Eddy up, before the latter says, "Yeah. Sorry."

"Eddy took the hit like those aliens on the planet Tod!" Ed randomly said. May laughs at him a little, while everyone else, minus Lee, chuckles at Ed's random statement. Eddy, Chris and Skylar sat where they originally sat, but Eddy actually noticed Lee, who was quite hurt from what occurred before. Granted, he couldn't tell much from the other areas of her, but he noticed that her lip had a few cuts, luckily nothing serious. However, he also took note of several other cuts, including what seems like a bruise on her nose. Eddy thought that if that's what he could see, it was probably worse from other areas, as if she wasn't at school because of the injured, it had to have been serious. Eddy, as much as hated himself for admitting this, felt concerned for Lee. But why? It's not like any other time he has felt sympathy for her... right? It's like having sympathy for the devil in his mind, Regardless, Eddy actually wanted to ask Lee how she was doing... but in his mind, that was a stupid beyond stupid idea, as if anything, her first instinct would be to start getting all defensive. Although... Eddy might be a really bad observer, as Lee sees him staring in her direction, and says to him, "What do you want?"

"Oh! Uh..." Eddy said, not realizing that she caught him. "Nothing. Just thinking."

Lee simply cracks a tiny smile at him, and she goes back to her lunch. Eddy doesn't even understand himself right now. Here's the thing, Eddy knows that sooner or later, he'll have to have a conversation with her. In fact, he honestly just wants to get it over with, because the more delaying, the less likely he'll resolve it. But his thoughts are once again broken, as the bell rings, and he is supposed to join up with Chris and Skylar for Spanish. Before he leaves, he quickly talks to Lee, saying, "You have a really quick second?"

"I knew it." Lee said, making Eddy confused. "You wanted to talk. What do you want or need?"

Eddy couldn't find a way to say what he wanted to say, other than, "Are you... okay? You seem... or I mean, are rather beat up."

"I'm fine." Lee says. "Why does it matter to you?"

Eddy didn't say anything in response, other than; "Just wanted to check up... as it was... I guess you can say concerning?"

Lee chuckles a little before saying, "Well, here's your little thank you."

And the thinkable occurs. No, seriously. Lee leans down towards Eddy and gives him a kiss on the lips for a few seconds. Eddy's mind just exploded, as it wasn't like the other kisses he is used to. It was NORMAL, not forced. But he is then told by Lee, "See ya later."

Eddy rejoins Chris and Skylar, who, luckily for Eddy, didn't see what occurred, and the crew of three went to their classes. Lee herself went to join May, Marie, Double D and Ed. Luckily for her, like Eddy, none of them saw what occurred. So, a secret, this remains between them. Nice.

The rest of school was honestly a blur to everyone. It seemingly came and went for our whole group of 9 people. The bell rang at around 3 PM, and everyone went onwards to their homes. At the exit from the school building, Eddy asked Chris, "So, are we continuing the movies today? That was awesome!"

"Well, let's see okay?" Chris tells Eddy, before he turns to Skylar and says, "Don't exactly like saying bye, but hey... it happens."

"Me neither." Skylar says. "But I'm always guaranteed to see you tomorrow. You take care."

"You too." Chris says, before Skylar, once again, hugs him, and she says her goodbyes to the rest of the crew. Chris then returns to his crew, and as they start walking to the cul-de-sac, he says, "Alright, we wanna continue today?"

"Unfortunately gentlemen," Double D spoke. "I will not be able to join you. As... I have very important work to do for school."

The three lads raised an eyebrow at Double D, before Eddy said, "How have you already gotten behind on work? We have barely been assigned anything for homework!"

Double D realized that his made up reason was... very unlikely to convince the lads. He tried to think of another reason to give them, but then Eddy chimed in again, saying, "You got something with Marie?"

"Yes Eddy." Double D said to him. "In fact, you could say that Marie and I have decided to go to... second base?"

Oh my goodness... The boys IMMEDIATELY stopped in their path, but Chris said to Double D, "Do you even know what that means?"

"No?"

Chris laughs before whispering to Double D what it ACTUALLY means. We cannot reveal this secret to you, as... well, it's unlikely we will have our rating still be K. Regardless, after Chris tells Double D what "second base" means, he simply says, "Oh my lord!"

The boys start laughing at Double D for his clear slip up, before Ed then asks the crew, "Double D and Marie are playing baseball?"

Chris and Eddy pause, before looking at each other, and then the former decided to tell Ed, "In a way, yes. But, no. I'll explain it to you later Ed."

Eddy then asks Double D, "Seriously, what are you doing with her?"

"It's... just a simple date."

"OH SNAP! DUDE! We gotta help you out!" Chris said, actually excited for him. Eddy also jumped in with him, saying, "Heck yeah!"

Double D wasn't very confident to let the boys help him, but he figured that it was easier to have some assistance for getting set up for the date. "Alright... but please desist from any sort of sabotage or pranks you might have in mind."

"Of course," Chris said. "We are here to HELP, not mess up your big shot at glory. Let's get you all set up my guy. Onto your home!"

And so, our good lads had decided to help Double D with his date. While not 100% comfortable, Double D still had his fair share of confidence in his friends to help him, not make it harder than it is already going to be.

BUT WAIT! What about Marie's side of everything?

Marie is currently in her room, figuring out what she wants to even wear during the date. She plans to put on some normal dark-eye liner/makeup for her eye, but as for her dress itself, she's currently unsure. At around 5:55 PM however, she decides to go to the restroom and start her makeup, just so that she can get one thing out of her list of things to do. Marie kinda thinks into the distance as she puts on her makeup, as she can't even believe that a date between her and Double D is something that's actually occurring in a way that's not forced between the two of them. Is she complaining though? Of course not. It's just hard for her to even believe. Either way the dice rolls, she is very much looking forward to their little date, as it IS Double D, the boy that Marie has liked since she was around 13 or 12. Once Marie finishes her makeup, she thinks that it doesn't look too bad in her eyes, but how Double D will react is a very different story altogether. However, once she finishes, May enters the room, and she sees Marie, making herself over.

"Marie?" May asked. "What are you doing?"

Marie sighed, as she wasn't exactly planning on telling May really, but she couldn't exactly say that she was making her over for fun or some dumb reason. So, she responds, "I'm getting ready for something."

May got shocked at that response, saying, "Wait... are you going on an actual date with Double D?!"

"Yes, keep quiet!" Marie said to May. "Now, I'll admit, I don't have a good idea of what to wear, but can I trust you to keep this away from Lee, AND help me?"

May smiles before saying, "Yes! Let's get you ready!"

Marie smiles back, then May decides to look through the cloest, to see if she can find something that works for Marie. She goes through a fair share amount of dresses, granted not too much is there for view. Although, May's eye catches the sight of a specific one, and it's one that couldn't be more fitting for Marie. May smiles, thinking that she's got the perfect fitting for Marie. So, she grabs one of them, and May goes to Marie and says, "Marie! I have just the thing!"

May shows Marie a pretty dark blue dress, that, at least the way that it appeared to Marie, would reach down to her knees at least. Marie doesn't recall using this dress ever, so it must've something that she never really considered using. Either way, she says, "May... you're a genius!"

"Thanks!" May said. "Let's get you ready!"

And so, the two ladies proceeded to begin the process of getting the dress on Marie. When doing so, Marie couldn't help but feel insanely different than she usually does. I mean, dressing up all like this? It's like going to the prom dance early or something. Marie decides to dismiss these thoughts, and focus on what's important: Getting prepared for this whole date. At least in her mind.

Let's see what the boys are doing to help out Double D... shall we?

"Alright, I think this table setup will be good." Chris said. "Just... hopefully neither of them knock the candles over, haha..."

"Where the heck is Double D?" Eddy asked. "He said that he would by down here by 4:15, it's now like 4:25! Surely the advice you gave him on dressing up wasn't something he couldn't understand!"

"Relax Eddy," Chris said, "I gave him decent advice to not look like he's going to school everyday. I'm sure he's taking his time, after all, he is trying to look good for his girlfriend."

The boys shared a bit of a laugh, before Ed chimes in saying, "Are we sure Double D didn't swallow himself in his clothes?"

"That's... not QUITE how that works Ed. But nah, I doubt that." Chris says.

"Gentlemen, I think I have prepared myself well."

Double D comes out to the top of the stairs, and the boys see what he decided to wear, which was mainly a dark blue jacket above a black shirt, denim blue jeans, and he still has his classic good ol beanie. The boys clapped for him, before Eddy said, "Double D! Look at yourself!"

"Is this good enough?" Double D said. "I really hope Marie doesn't mind the more dark approach of color I've chosen."

"Dude," Chris said. "You are basically fitting together with those colors! I'm sure you'll be fine dude, if anything, she will be more busy with her looks too to mind yours. I can guarantee that."

"I suppose you do have a point Chris." Double D said.

"So, you like my advice dude?"

"Well," Double D said, "Not the most comfortable fit for my taste, but I suppose it will fit for the dinner I have planned."

Chris laughs a little before saying, "Don't worry dude! And also, I have organized the table good enough for you and your lady. I don't think you have much else to do aside from just be yourself during your date. Got it?"

Double D nods his head and so, the boys simply decide to have some conversation until around 10 to 5 minutes before the date officially started, per se.

Back to Marie and May...

"Marie!" May said. "Look at you! Double D won't have an easy time."

The sisters shared a laugh at that, before Marie said, "Thanks! I hope he likes this..."

"Don't be silly!" May said. "He likes you normally doesn't he? As far as I'm concerned, it wouldn't make sense if he didn't like it!"

Marie chuckles before she says, "I guess you're right. How do I get to his house...? Lee can't see me like this!"

May thought for a second of how exactly she could get Marie to Double D's house. She first thought of perhaps having Marie go out the window, but it wouldn't be very easy, and if Marie messed up... oh boy it's trouble for all! So, May instead had an idea to distract Lee.

"Wait here for a couple minutes. I will make a distraction." May said while smiling at her sister.

And so, May goes downstairs, into the kitchen, and begins to make a major mess of... holy crap, would everything work as a description? Because it's literally what May does. Soap is being used to no avail, water all over the place, and it's just a disaster on top of disaster. Lee, who was watching TV like usual, sees this and yells at May, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

Lee has to get up and actively see what in the world is going on. Marie heard everything and decided that it was her cue. She turns around quickly and laughs at her sister in her mind, as she's never seen her do that much destruction to the dishes. Anyways, Marie has something else in her mind to think about now though. A certain beanie wearing dude, who is obviously none other than Double D!

Speaking of Double D...

Chris was singing the last part of the song, "Haunting The Chapel" from Slayer, and, tell ya the truth, the boys had simply spent the last moments of their time with Double D listening to music, as they couldn't really go watch anything just yet, as that would completely distract Double D from what is currently his most important thing in mind. Although Double D got help from his friends... or what they could give as advice or help, he was still nervous for this, as he's never even gone to this level with anyone as far as he is concerned. And, to be honest, the music that the lads were playing wasn't very helpful... ahahaha!

"Oh crap! 6:27! Guys! We better get going! Double D, good luck my man!" Chris told Double D.

Eddy comes into the mix and tells him, "Don't get weak legs now!"

"And be sure to scratch your back for bugs!" Ed yelled out.

Double D simply chuckles at his friends, before they all leave. However, once the 3 boys leave the house...

"Guys... I got an idea. Chris, let's go to your house." Eddy told the crew.

"Alright. I'm curious as to what you've got in store..." Chris said. And with that, the crew went to Chris's house to proceed and... do some sort of plan. What that plan was currently a mystery. Hopefully something that isn't what you call, reckless, my good lads.

Now that Double D is alone for a couple more minutes, he decided to revise the table one more time, just for being secure and all. He admittedly is very impressed with Chris's work in decor and organization of the table. It was fitted with a red cover, with three flowers on a little flower cup, colored red, white, and blue, accompanied by two candles, one for each side. Double D wondered where exactly Chris got the idea for the table as he organized it, as it seems like he took inspiration from something he's seen. Regardless however, he was sure that this would be good enough for this whole date thing.

Speaking of which... a bell goes off, alerting Double D that someone is at the door.

And here it comes again! The feeling of love!


	26. Chapter 26: Feel Your Love Tonight

Chapter 26: Feel Your Love Tonight

Double D opens his door and... let's just say that he has never been amazed by looks as much as he is right now. He sees Marie dressed in that dark blue dress that May gave her, along with some heels to compliment her appearance more. And... to compliment her appearance more, her VERY dark eyeliner and all gives it more of a complete dark blue look. Of course, Marie still has her normal the normal shade of blue that she's always had. Not too dark, not too bright. Unbeknownst to Double D, Marie currently was looking at how he looked too, and she was actually impressed by what Double D wore, and thought that he was, lack of better terms, hot as hell. Looks can kill, now can't they?

"He-hello Marie! How was your trip here?" Double D said, breaking the very much awkward slience between the two.

"Good." Marie said. "I must say Double D, you're looking great."

Double D, being used to NEVER being complimented on his appearance, goes dead-beat red on the cheeks, before saying very reluctantly, "Thank you Marie. I must say that you are appearing really... uh... beautiful!"

Marie smiles at him before she enters the house and looks at the table and says, "Nice setup. How long did it take you?"

"Oh! Umm..." Double D said, realizing he had to explain that it wasn't actually him that setup the table. "I, uh... accidentally slipped the fact that we were having this... date with my friends. But they offered to help me prepare for this. Chris is actually the one who helped with the table, and assisted with helping me get an idea for my attire. Eddy and Ed gave advice-"

Double D stopped because he realized that he was getting into way too much unnecessary detail, and that it would seem like it wasn't possible for him to do it on his own. So, to stop his rambling, he concludes with, "They simply just helped me. I hope you don't mind the fact that they know."

Marie laughs at him, before she says, "Relax! At least they didn't make a fuss about it. Even then, I'll admit, May knows. But, like your friends, she helped me get dressed and even helped with keeping this away from Lee. Hope she doesn't get in trouble for what she did... but she can handle herself!"

And so, the two decide to sit down on the table. Double D decided to move the decor to the side, so that the two lovers could see each other without it getting in the way. However, when you go to dinner, you go to eat. And Double D has already planned what he was going to serve for him and Marie. It was leftover meat and rice that he had thanks to a previous dinner time he had a bit ago with his parents. So, he grabs two plates and starts reheating up the food, but not too much so that they don't have to wait a while. While Double D is doing that, Marie is currently anxiously sitting down, as yeah, she prepared as much as she could, anything can happen. She'll have to keep calm as much as she can, she thinks. Anyways, Double D is finished with the food, and so, he hands out the food, giving Marie the food first.

"Ladies first." Double D says, while chuckling.

"Oh you!" Marie says, kissing him. Before Double D sits himself down and eats however, he asks Marie, "Oh my... forgot the drinks. Would you like some uh... madam?"

"You don't have to call me fancy names," Marie said. "but yeah, I'd like a soda, if you got any."

Double D goes to the fridge to see if he has anything in store, and indeed he does! For himself, he decides to get water, as he doesn't drink soda very often. Either way, he gives Marie her soda in a wine glass, and puts the soda near the decor, in case she wants more. And with that, the two start eating. Around a few minutes after starting to eat, Marie says, "This is really good, did you just make this?"

"Ah, well no." Double D explained to Marie. "You see, a while ago, my and my family had a rare dinner together, and this was what we ate that day. We made a bit too much, might I add. So, because of that scenario, my parents told me that if I needed any food, there were plenty of leftovers I could heat up for consumption. I cannot really say I have eaten much of it, but I figured today was appropriate for that."

Marie smiles at Double D, before proceeding to say, "Well, someone's got a story for everything, don't they? If this is this good right now, man, I bet it was better when it was first made!"

"A reasonable assessment Marie." Double D, throwing a smile back at his girlfriend.

And so, the two lads ate and drank their food and drinks until it was done and over. Double D finished his food a little bit quicker than Marie did, and he already had an idea of what he wanted to do next with Marie, since it was basically more than just a "eat than gone" date. Right? Right. Anyways, Double D decided to wait until Marie was done before telling her what he had in mind in order to spend their company together. As for what exactly he has in mind, he plans to watch a movie or two with her, similar to how he did with the boys, expect it's... rather unlikely that he will watch the movies that he and his crew watched that day, as that's not fully what he is looking for with his lady, per se. Before he knows it however, Marie is done and done with both things, and she then says, "Alright, that was really good! You got anything else in store for tonight?"

"Certainly." Double D said. "Follow me please."

And so, the two peeps go to the living room, where Double D has he TV all set up for watching a movie with Marie. One issue. He doesn't know what exactly what movie, or MOVIES, Marie would wanna even watch. So, instead, he says to her, "I would like to watch some movies with you Marie. What movies would you like to watch?"

"Here," Marie responded, "Let me show you."

The two of them sit down, and Marie ends up picking a trilogy of movies called "Before", with the series going in order from Sunrise, Sunset, and lastly Midnight. The movies themselves aren't that long, with the longest being around less than 110 minutes. And so, the two of them sat down and start to watch the three movies. Double D didn't exactly expect Marie to pick THESE movies in particular, but he guessed that Marie simply wanted the mood to be more... "love", "romance", whatever term you wanna use, oriented than say, John Wick type stuff. Although, as Double D was watching the movie, he couldn't help but wonder... was there a specific reason as to why she picked this? The plot wasn't very... creative to him per se, but he connected some parts of it to his little thing with Marie. Maybe... just maybe... there's something underneath everything? But, until then, Double D shuts these thoughts out (mostly), and watches the movie. Around the end of the first one, Marie asks Double D, "What did you think?"

"Well," Double D said, "Even though the plot was pretty bare, to say the least, I would say it's altogether a pretty well made film!"

Marie smiles before saying, "Wanna watch the next two? I know I can't stay forever, but I'd like to if you don't mind."

Double D nods his head to say, before Marie starts the next movie and she decides to move in closer to him. Knowing what Marie basically is trying to do, Double D eventually decides to pull her closer to him, and she decides to lay her head on his chest. As he has never been in well, ANY situations like this, Double D felt his heart beating rapidly. But after some time, he just settled into it, and actually enjoyed himself with the presence of his girlfriend.

As the two of them, when the movies got to its more, "romantic" parts per se, the two of them basically got into the mood. What does, "the mood", mean? It's basically when the two people in a relationship feel their romantic feelings for each other; and either kiss, or hug, or both! What? That's literally what it is. Anyways, after the second movie finished up, Marie asked Double D, "Whatcha think?"

"I would say it's quite well made. A subtle improvement, for certain!" Double D responded. Marie smiles at him, before realizing that it's almost 9 PM, but she still has some time for another idea she has in mind for their little date.

"Double D," Marie says. "Close your eyes."

"Marie, what is-"

Marie cuts him off by putting her index finger over his lip, saying, "Just go along with it."

Double D rolls his eyes, and decides to comply with... whatever Marie is thinking of doing. After around 10 seconds, he hears, "Open up!"

And Marie has disappeared into thin air. Not really. Double D chuckles, as clearly Marie has done a "Hide and Seek" type thingus, So, to find her, he goes. He looks in some places in the living room, his kitchen, dining room, but no luck. Upstairs, logically, is where Marie must be. Somewhere. And so, Double D goes upstairs and goes to the hallway and sees his door open. Wow, it's totally not obvious where Marie could be. Although, Double D is well aware at this point that with Marie, it's never as simple as he would think. He goes inside and it's pitch black. Nothing is visible. Because Double D can't see, he is just slightly paranoid, as the only thing in his room, or person, is Marie. But where is she? Double D manages to turn on his lamp, and there's nothing below his bed, in the cloest, the restroom, the back of the door... you get the point? So... did Marie just leave suddenly?

"Marie!" Double D, who was confused, yelled out. "Where are you?"

The lamp gets shut off again, and Double D wasn't near it, so that only means one thing.

"Hey."

Obviously that is Marie, but she whispers that quietly, and Double D can only guess where it came from. He goes towards a random direction, and, lucky! Well, sort of, because Marie pulled him onto the bed, and Double D's shock is probably bigger than you currently imagine right now.

"Marie? What are you insi-"

Marie kisses him on the lips, having none of his questioning. Double D was feeling like he was in deja vu, as yeah, he was in a similar situation before, but this time... everything is different. But, one thing remains the same. Double D decided to give it back, as his mind entered a euphoric state the moment he felt the kiss, and nothing was on his mind, just the blue haired goddess (at least in his mind) in front of him, as truth be told, he hasn't been in a state of mind like that... well, basically never in his life until now.

While that's going on...

"Oh my god..."

Chris, Eddy and Ed were spending time watching what Double D was doing. And when they see what was happening, the former two start laughing.

"Dude!" Chris said. "He's REALLY going to it! I think?!"

"Yeah! Let's hope he doesn't stop in middle because of weak legs!" Eddy said, nearly dying of laughter.

"Shouldn't we help Double D?" Ed said. "Marie might suck his brains out of his skull! And Double D won't-"

Why did Ed have to say that? Because they started to laugh even more than they already were. Very poor choice of words. Oh, and Ed starts to laugh with them too, After a couple minutes of laughing, Eddy says, "Man, he got lucky!"

"At least we finally get something! Their little movie thing literally gave us so much time to kill on games! Good thing we got that at least." Chris said, before then continuing with, "I'm actually proud of him though. I expected him to almost quit after the dinner part of his date, but damn, he's pulling his weight!"

"You're right." Eddy said. "Double D really has it in him! We gotta prepare ourselves now!"

"What do you mean Eddy?" Ed asks.

"I mean," Eddy begins to explain. "We gotta get ready for when it's our turn to shine! I mean, Chris, you seriously gotta make your stance on Skylar sometime, as something tells me that you have nothing to worry about. Ed, you and May... are getting along more, from what I've seen going on. Me? I gotta get ready for a lady."

"Well," Chris said, "You should have some patience mate. As I've been saying for who knows how long, it will pay off to wait. For me, okay relax about Skylar. She's really... uh... pretty? I guess, but I just wanna give it more time. And even then dude, if I were to invite her over, I would strictly make it just a hangout thing. Not anything romantic. Look, if say she REALLY wants to take it romantically and all, fine, but until then... I'll wait."

"Jeez, it would be 5 years from now and you'd still be waiting!" Eddy said while chuckling, before he proceeded to say. "I'm just messing with ya, but I understand what you're saying. Have you even been in a relationship before?"

"Eddy, I'm pretty sure we've had this conversation in another chapter, but just to clarify, no. I have been asked out once, but I said no." Chris said to Eddy.

"WHAT?! Why did you say no?"

"One, I didn't know that person." Chris began to explain. "Two, she tried to force me into it by basically making a rumor that I was with her. It didn't work. Lastly, yeah she looked okay, but her persona? Oh my god, I just didn't like how she acted. So, all that added up to no. I would've NEVER liked that relationship. Just being honest."

Eddy was shocked at the fact that Chris just told, but he then says, "I think I getcha. Speaking of romantic stuff, what's our Sockhead doing?"

Chris readjusts the telescope they were using to see and says, "Let's see..."

It only makes sense to see what Marie and Double D are doing right now. So...

Double D and Marie were... STILL making out after 5 or so minutes. The former is still in the euphoria from earlier, and the latter still has... let's just say VERY strong feelings for her boyfriend. However, something incredibly unbelieveable happens with Double D. As he was making out with Marie, he realized that he put his hands on... yeah. Let's just say the "chest" part. Once he noticed, he IMMEDIATELY yanked his hands off and said, "Marie! I am so sorry! I did not mean to make you feel disrespected in the manner of-"

"Oven mitt!" Marie yelled, jokingly. "Relax silly! I totally understand what happened. Didn't expect that from you, tell ya the truth, but it's okay!"

No, it's not going where you think it's going. Calm your mind down, you dingus. Double D sighs in relief, as he thought he just broke a law BADLY, but Marie didn't mind, as she just explained. Although, Marie says, in a seductive tone to him, "One last kiss?"

Double D smiles at her before, of course, returning her favor and kissing her for an EXACT 30 seconds. He almost entered the euphoria-like state... but it wasn't like a bit ago so, he decided to keep himself in check. Still, he didn't stop himself from still admiring how Marie looked. After the kiss, Marie says, "I really loved this time with you."

"Me too. Again, Marie, you look beautiful." Double D said with a smile that couldn't be more genuine than genuine. Marie admittedly blushed a good bit, as the whole thing said from Double D was something that she would've never expected from him. Anyways, the two of them walk down to the door, and Marie decides to tell him, "Thanks for everything today. It was really sweet."

"Anytime Marie!"

Now, right before Marie leaves, Double D says, "Marie!"

"Yes...?"

The thing he wants to say is something is genuinely something he believes, but saying it in a manner that SHOWS that you mean it is... rather difficult to do,no matter who you think you are. Double D just spits it out and says, in his calmest tone, "I love you."

Marie blushes yet again at that, but she's also very stunned, believe it or not. In fact, her response to that is simply to kiss him, with as much passion per se, as she can... express, show, or do. After the 10 second kiss, Marie says, with a slight tear, "I love you too."

The two hug each other and... they bid their farewells for the day. Or night. Either way, Double D closes his door, and oh my goodness... his energy is shooting higher than the sky above the sky. He SAID the thing that is notoriously difficult to say or express, and she also gave it back to him. He's just happy, end of story really. In fact, the TV was at the credits and he decided to play a random song from a song streaming service, and the one that came in was pretty fitting for his mood. "Take Me To The Top" from Motley Crue.

After Double D got to the second chorus, he hears a ring at his doorbell, but he is majorly confused as to who that is. It's definitely not Marie, as she has FOR SURE left for her home. He goes to answer it and...

"Hey Double D!"

Chris greeted him, along with Eddy and Ed. Double D was only hoping that they didn't ask for details about everything, as... he wants to wait a bit.

"Hello fellows!"

"How did it go, huh?" Eddy teased.

"It went perfectly!" Double D said. "Marie and I really enjoyed each other company.

Chris and Eddy were both trying hard to hide their snickering from Double D, as they didn't want to expose the fact that obviously watched what he was doing. Chris QUICKLY intervened by saying, "Did the decor for the table work?"

"You'll be happy to know it did. Marie was pretty satisfied with it. How did you get the idea for the decor, pardon my sudden asking."

"You know what, how's this lads? Let's go and talk about everything tomorrow. We gotta get sleeping, and school ain't gonna tolerate us sleepy, so, let's go! Double D, I'll tell ya tomorrow, alright buddy?" Chris said.

Truthfully, Chris said that as, he and Eddy were very clearly going to fail hiding the secret if they stayed talking to Double D about what exactly happened. So, to save themselves the trouble that they might get into, Chris calls it. And everyone decides to go to their homes, in order to either do something before bed, or just sleep. Double D simply slipped into his pajamas, and off into dreamland he went. Who he was likely to be dreaming about is seriously not hard to guess, and if it is, you weren't paying atttention, were ya?

Talk about a lovely night, right?

_Author's note: Sorry for the quite long wait on this, but I wanted to make sure it is as good as it can be, as I KNEW this was going to be an IMPORTANT chapter, so yeah. See ya in Chapter 27: A New Level!_


	27. Chapter 27: A New Level

Chapter 27: A New Level

That title might be an understatement. Anyways, it's now the next morning, and oh where oh where to begin...? Let's start with Double D. Well, he's still high on that drug you call love, although not as much as when he went to sleep, for certain. Putting that aside, our sockheaded Ed-boy currently was busy preparing himself for the new day of school, and yeah... it's gonna be a strange day for him and his girlfriend. He was hoping that Marie was able to keep the whole thing from last night just between them, as more people finding out is NOT going to help their situation in the slightest bit whatsoever. Anyways, Double D just simply finished dressing up, and prepared himself for the weirdest day between him and Marie, as ever since Lee came back from what happened, the two of them have simply keep it, "below the radar", so to speak, my good lad. Although... now? It's a test for both of them.

As for other things to note, our other lads, Ed; Eddy and Chris, are already outside of Double D's house, as they are currently waiting for Double D, to discuss how things went in general. And yeah, once Double D goes outside, Eddy greets him, saying, "Hey Double D!"

"Greetings!" Double D said. "How are you doing this fine morning?"

"We are all good I want to say." Chris responded. "But, why don't you tell us what happened yesterday at night? We got plenty of time while we walk to school, so tell us man!"

So, the boys start walking to school, and Double D begins to speak, "Well, Marie and I started off the whole date by first eating dinner. I simply got ourselves leftovers from a previous dinner night with mother and father. Proceeding onwards, Marie wanted to watch a couple movies and I obliged happily to join her. After that and so, some other events conspired."

"What?" Eddy asked, but come on now! He, Chris and Ed know what Double D is talking about!

"What's that supposed to mean...?" Chris said, pretending to be surprised.

Double D is trying to find out how on earth he could explain what he's referring to. Then again, he could always just... not tell them, but this would be pointless because we already know why. So, BEFORE Double D says what he means, he first states, "You all must promise to not reveal this very important piece of information to anyone within the confines of our cul-de-sac or school. Understood?"

"Yep. We promise. I'll make sure we keep it to ourselves, right guys!?" Chris said, reassuring Double D, and the other two lads promised to do so aswell. And... oh my goodness, Double D actually decides to SPIT! IT OUT! "Well, Chris, if you recall the meaning you provided to myself about going to 'second-base'... I suppose you can say. I assure you, I kept sure that it didn't exceed anything more than a simple... expression of affection."

"Wait..." Chris said, pretending to be shocked, and so was Eddy. "Does this mean that you..."

Double D only nodded his head as to say, affirmative. And, Chris and Eddy looked at each other for half a second, and burst out in laughter.

"DUDE!" Chris yelled out. "You really went there? My dude! I'm proud of ya!"

"Did you stop halfway through! I bet you did!" Eddy said, teasing him.

"Uh... of course not!" Double D, who was now embarrassed beyond belief, more than you think.

As the four lads went to the school, they arrived to their lockers and while doing so, Chris tells Double D, "Relax alright? Only we know about it, but promise we will keep it between us. After all, we aren't going to spread it around you dingus."

"Hopefully your word is sincere. Thank you Chris."

"No worries. Lads! To class! We go!"

And so, the four split up, as we all know, Chris and Eddy to Math, and Ed and Double D to Spanish. While the former two go, Eddy says, "You think he bought that we didn't know about it?"

"Yeah." Chris said. "Although, let's hope to god Ed doesn't spoil over cover. Then again... maybe Double D won't believe him. Let's hope so..."

The two lads take their seats, which are still the same, so nothing different there. Although, Chris notices that Skylar is, once again, late. "Huh... wonder where Skylar is. Why does she always come late...?"

"Maybe she's getting _all ready_ for something or someone." Eddy teased, making Chris slightly annoyed.

"Shut up, you twit. Ugh... you're never gonna let this go, are you? Just calm down already!" Chris said in response.

Around a couple minutes, as Chris and Eddy were getting set up, Chris notices Skylar enter, luckily Mr. Muta wasn't there yet either, as he was busy with some stuff himself. Skylar then notices him, and shoots a smile at him, and of course, he returns the favor.

"Hey! How's it going?" Skylar asks him.

"Alright, more or less. Just kinda bored. You?"

"Okay." Skylar says. "Happy to see you. You think Mr. Muta will give out another really long set of problems today?"

Chris missed what Skylar asked because he was surprised about what she first said. But then, tick! It ticks in his head what she just asked, and, sheepishly, he says, "Not... uh... sure? Maybe?"

"We will see, hmm?" Skylar says back to him.

"_Jesus Christ me! Calm down already! It's fine, you have literally no reason to be nervous! Listen to some Metal or something to cool off a bit!" _Chris yelled inside his mind to himself.

On the other side...

In Spanish, things are going well for Double D and Marie. Of course, they both waved at each other, and said hello, but nothing more, as they had to keep this away from Lee, no matter what. Which, luckily, they both managed to do. Granted, May knew about it, but Marie had yet to tell her about the details about... well, everything, to be exact. But May did know about the whole thing, as she literally helped out Marie, similar to how Chris, Eddy, and Ed knew about it because they helped Double D. In their class however, Marie and Double D both shot smiles at each other here and there, but luckily for them, no one else really saw or noticed it much really. So far, so good... so what!?

Skipping over unnecessary details, the crew of 8 peeps all simply went through their classes in a breeze and so, lunchtime! And you know what that means for the boys. Yeah. The good news is Eddy stopped complaining about it endlessly, thanks to Chris convincing him that the more he complains, he just added salt to the wound. Anyways, the group of 8 got bored at their table, and they all decided to play "spin the bottle", but NOT in the way it's normally known for. In fact, they all agreed to do a much different version of the game. Let me try to explain to you. Ahem...

The way that they all mutually agreed to do this, was more of a combo of Spin The Bottle and Truth or Dare. Basically, someone will spin the bottle, and then whoever it lands on will have to answer a truth, or do a dare. In fact, hey! The lads are all ready to play, so let's go see what's up!

"Ed, you shall go first!" Double D proposed, in order to start.

Ed spins the bottle, and... it lands on Skylar. So, Ed then says, "Ooh! Uh... I dare you to turn into a vampire!"

Skylar laughs a little bit, but then says, "Yeah uh... I'm not able to do that. Sorry to disappoint."

"Ed... maybe try something more reasonable?" Double D suggested. Ed simply say there... thinking and thinking about what exactly to say. Then he got an idea.

"Okay! How about... tell me a story!"

Skylar nods her head, and decides to share a short story in order to not take too much time. "Well, I found this school by fighting through an invasion of evil sorcerers and devils! They just didn't want to let me find out about this place, but spoiler alert, they failed to hide it from me. And because they failed, they went away to their homes. The end."

Everyone shared a chuckle, as the moment Skylar mentioned demons/sorcerers and that stuff... it was pretty obvious that it just a joke, and that obviously Skylar didn't actually fight through that stuff. Ed, while laughing a little says, "That's a cool story! Okay! Double D's turn!"

"Very well." Double D says, and so, he spins the bottle and... Chris!

"Oh, alright. Let's see what the smart guy has in store for me." Chris said.

"Because I don't resort to immature dares," Double D said. "I will give you a dare that's easy to do. I dare you to take a break from your heavy metal for three days!"

"Really?" Chris said. "Well, not the worst thing ever, but I'll try this. If I listen to a metal song, I'll mark it down and you can use it against me... if ya want. Until then... I guess some Jimi Hendrix and some video game music will suffice."

"Glad to hear." Double D responded. "Eddy, your turn."

Eddy then spins it and... he lands on Marie. Shocking? Maybe not much. But...

"Alright then, Marie! You ready for a dare?"

"Bring it shorty!" Marie yelled back. That might've been a poor choice of words, as...

"I dare ya to kiss Double D."

Hahahaha! If their secret was well hidden now, well... it just got a hella of a lot more complicated than you think lad. Now what? Double D and Marie don't have an issue with this now, but the thing is... if they make seem like they are enjoying it, there goes the marbles. They could just back out; right?

"Eddy!" Double D yelled. "I will not participate in this, no thank you!"

"Oh, you will. Otherwise, why don't we do something I like to call, 'Metal Roulette'?" Chris said.

Double D raised an eyebrow, then asked, "What exactly are you proposing?"

"Here's how it works." Chris began to explain. "Now, I'll pick a random Metal song from a collection, right? Now, you could end with a very short, but brutal song like Get This from Slipknot, or you could end up with a song like Metal Meltdown from Judas Priest, which is not brutal, but fast as hell for a good portion of its 5 minutes or so. Or, lastly, you could end up with a very slow song, but very long song, like Iowa from Slipknot, running at FIFTEEN minutes. Like I said, it's random. So, don't do the dare, and I'll roll and see what song you get. Your choice."

Wow. That's a way to get their spirits up, isn't it. Not really. Anyways, Double D didn't mind the music itself, but he gets sick of it after like 4 songs, and he prefers more calm things, so... kissing Marie it is! But, he decided to LOOK like he wasn't going to enjoy this. Marie had the same thing in mind too. So, after around like 10 seconds of staring at each other, the two of them share their... official and unofficial kiss in public. The circumstances make the two of them hardly willing to even consider that their, "official" kiss in public.

"Well... here I thought you didn't have the guts. Ha!" Eddy teased, which annoyed Marie. Anyways, it's now Chris's turn. He spins it and... he lands on May. This could be slightly... empty per se.

"Uh... hmm... May, maybe I could do a truth. Have you always had your two teeth poking out like that? Not making fun of that, I'm just curious."

"I think..." May responded. "...around like went I was 5 I noticed that. I've tried to ignored it though."

"Cool. Umm... Skylar? Your turn."

Skylar spins the bottle and... oh wow! Chris is up yet again. "Well... hmm... give me a second..."

"_Just nothing embarrassing... PLEASE._" Chris thought in his mind. After around a few second, Skylar turns to him and asks him, "Tell me the most ridiculous thing you've done that you can recall."

"Whew." Chris said. "Alright uh... one time in ninth grade, we were assigned to analyze a song and write a whole set of three or so paragraphs. And well... I chose 'Iowa', which is..."

Skylar laughs at him, as she knows what the song is about. Chris just spits it out and says, "...it's about playing with a dead corpse. Yeah, so, I did that and the teacher had us read the damn songs we picked too, and everyone didn't think of me the same way for a bit. The teacher found it funny believe it or not, and... that was that."

Everyone was shocked at first, but then shared a chuckle at the ridiculousness of Chris's situation. Skylar then says, "That is pretty funny. You should've done 'Purity' instead, probably would've been even better.", and then elbows him playfully. Chris chuckles a bit, before nodding his head.

"Alright, Marie, your turn!" Skylar says. And spin the bottle, Marie does. And she lands on... Eddy! Uh oh!

"Hey shorty!" Marie says. "You ready?"

"Oh shush, what's the worst that-"

Marie laughs before saying, "You have to go and kiss Lee!"

Payback hurts, doesn't it? Well, Eddy IMMEDIATELY doesn't wanna do this of course, but Chris whispers, "Remember the Roulette dude."

"What?!" Eddy yelled out. "But I thought that... that was only for Double D!"

"No. It's for EVERYONE. So... like I said to Double D, your choice dude."

"Forget it!" Eddy yelled. "Chris, roll your dumb Roulette thing."

"Okay... you insisted." Chris says. He pulls out his phone, and hits shuffle and... he lands on, "The Great Southern Trendkill" from Pantera.

"You got a REALLY aggressive one. Eddy, uh... well... actually... think about it some more. But at the end of the day, it's your choice dude."

Eddy simply sits there, as well, he has two choices, and as you just witnessed, he is very much... NOT willing to do the dare. But then... something in his mind clicks. Although... yes, he did promise that he would maybe get a conversation with Lee about whatever to Chris, he was not sure as to... how or when to do this. Here's the thing that Eddy realizes, he is going to not have these unspoken tensions between him and her. And so, Eddy gets up, walks towards Lee, who, by the by... hasn't really been caring a lot about the dares and truths going on, until now really. She notices this, and she turns to him. Eddy doesn't do anything ridiculous, only a quick one on the cheek.

"There!" Eddy says. "Is that good enough?!"

Marie laughs before she says, "Yeah yeah, relax and sit down, May! You're up!"

May spins the bottle and... she lands on Double D. May decides to ask a question that is quite simple, yet something she is curious about. "How long have you worn your hat?"

"Well," Double D begins to state, "I've had it since I was around 10 or 9 years old. It has always... Uh... been a great help with my hair!"

May chuckles a little before she passes the bottle to Lee. She spins it and... Eddy, again! Now, you would expect Lee to perhaps make an embarrassing dare for him... but she just says, "You're off the hook, my man."

Eddy felt a shock up his spine, but... let's just say that he is more thankful, and glad he doesn't have to do anything stupid. Unfortunately, the bell rang, signaling time to go to class, and yeah, everyone starts to get ready to split to their classes. Although, Eddy tells his small crew, "Gimme a second, alright?"

"No worries. I'll catch you in class, alright?"

Eddy, in quite the quick manner, goes to Double D and says, "Hey, I got something to ask ya, fast."

"Okay Eddy."

Double D goes with Eddy and he says, "What's the matter Eddy?"

"When do you plan to like... I guess tell everyone about the whole thing between you and Marie? I think you and her have to tell it sometime."

"Eddy," Double D began to speak. "Marie and I have yet to decide that, as we wish for it to be free of drama. Rest assured, don't worry about it. I appreciate your concern. Get to class now however, you cannot risk being late!"

Eddy shoots Double D two thumbs up, and went to join his crew. However, the rest of school was quick, yet somehow long at the same time. Isn't that new? Anyways, once everyone leaves the building...

"I'll catch ya tomorrow then." Chris says to Skylar.

"Yep! See ya!"

"See ya boys later!" Marie said, speaking for all her sisters.

And so, once everyone said their goodbyes at the end of the day, Eddy whispered to Chris, "Yo, you available for talking?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I'll tell ya soon. Gimme around 30 minutes okay?"

Chris, not sure what Eddy says, simply responds with, "Alright then."

Hmm... Eddy has a plan... but what exactly...?


	28. Chapter 28: King Nothing

Chapter 28: King Nothing

At around 4:00 PM, Eddy went to Chris's house, in order to talk to him about an idea he had in mind. For some strange reason, Eddy was stuck thinking about someone who... logically, he should just hate for everything she has done. Wow, unsubtle spoiler there, so, spilling the beans to you now, it's Lee. Yes, the red-headed Kanker. The thing is... Eddy still doesn't even understand why he is thinking about her. Maybe it's the fact that, something that he noticed is that she has gotten VERY noticeably silent. Granted, she might speak here and there, but compared to normal? Something is... different, and Eddy knows this. But why? Well... our good lad is going to attempt to figure that out. However, he is going to need help for his friends, and he decided to start with Chris.

Eddy arrives to the house, and he rings the doorbell. A few seconds pass and Maria, Chris's mom opens the door, and says, "Oh! Hello Eddy! Chris is upstairs."

"I thought you only spoke Spanish? Just curious." Eddy said to the mother.

"Ah, well," Maria stated. "I speak both, granted I'm not the best with English so... pardon me sometimes."

Eddy nods his head and goes upstairs to Chris's room. Although, he hears some VERY loud music, which by the time Eddy went up to the door, stopped. Well, that's convenient, isn't it?

"Chris!" Eddy yelled out. "Are you there?"

"Oh crap! Yeah! Coming!"

Chris runs to the door and opens it for Eddy, and says, "Howdy dude. Come in."

Eddy comes in and sits down on the couch Chris has in the room. Chris closes the door, and says to Eddy, "What's up dude?"

"I'm alright... I got a plan that I need your help with."

"Yeah? Alright then! *burp* Lemme hear it!!"

Eddy chuckles a bit, before proceeding, "I have a plan to... alright make fun of me, talk with Lee."

Chris couldn't BELIEVE his shock. "...are you serious or joking?"

"Yeah, I'm serious. Like, have you noticed how different she has been recently?"

"Huh..." Chris wondered. "You are correct dude... hmm... so what's your plan?"

"Well... I was thinking perhaps we could try something similar to what Double D and Marie did. That seemed to workout in their favor really well." Eddy explained. "Here's the thing my guy... I DON'T KNOW HOW TO ASK!"

Chris laughed at that yell, and said, "Just... go up to her and ask? Isn't this simple to do? Come on dude, don't make it rocket science for crying out loud!"

Eddy lets out a sigh of frustration, before saying, "Maybe... wait! I have an idea!"

"Another one? Okay, what's this next idea you've got?" Chris asked.

"Remember that one time I told you about when Double D made a soda that never lost its fizz or whatever?"

"Oh yeah." Chris said. "Then somehow, that led to some whole adventure with some key that ended up being the key to a door in Ed's house? That's silly, but yeah. What's your point exactly though?"

"We could try something like that to make sure I NEVER got nervous."

"_Did this guy... oh my gosh." _Chris said in his mind.

"But!" Eddy continued speaking. "We don't have to make it soda or whatever. We can make a potion that gets rid of all nervous stuff, and bam! Can we try that?"

"Why?!?!" Chris said, dumbfounded.

"Isn't it a great idea?" Eddy responded.

"No. First of all, that would be INSANELY complicated to make. How would we even start? Second, YOU ARE KIDDING YOURSELF!"

Eddy got confused. "How?!"

"If Double D, of all people in existence, can do a date, and do the 'stuff' with Marie, you shouldn't be relying on utilities to help you. And lastly, I love how you portray yourself as, 'suave', per se, and yet here we are."

"Oh come on!" Eddy yelled back. "Can we at least try? It will help out!"

"Dude..." Chris said. "I am not an expert on potion crap. We need help, as at most I can only be an assistant. But... I know someone we both know that can maybe try."

"Awesome!" Eddy said in excitement.

"Hang on!" Chris told Eddy. "I need you to understand something. DO NOT try to copy what Double D did, as your situation is going to be different is literally every way. So, be aware of this, and try not to overshoot everything you do. Also, calm your expectations down. Got it?"

"Uh... yeah?" Eddy said, kinda unconfident.

"Let me get Double D on the phone."

Chris gets his phone, and calls up Double D for quite possibly one of the most ridiculous things he is going to attempt. He calls, but... no response. "What the?" Chris said.

"Is he even there?" Eddy said.

"Hang on..."

Chris calls again, and, there we go! A response from Double D. "Double D's room. Double D speaking."

"Double D, it's Chris. I need you to help me and Eddy with something that's... well, can you first help us?"

"It depends on the size of the request. What do you and Eddy have in mind?"

"Okay, uh... come on over first dude. I will explain it in full detail, so that you can help us better." Chris stated.

Double D went to Chris's house, and in the process met Chris's mom. Chris realized that he didn't even introduce Double D yet to his mom, so when Double D arrived he ran downstairs, quickly explained to his mom that he was another friend, and his mom welcomed Double D with open arms into the home.

"Forgot that my mom hasn't met you yet. My bad." Chris told Double D.

"No worries Chris. Your mother does seem welcoming of others, which I appreciate." Double D said.

"Yeah. She's always been like that. Anyways, let's get together with Eddy now."

Chris and Double D enter the former's room and Eddy jumps up from the couch and says, "Hey Double D! You ready to hear this plan."

"You've got my curiosity. Mind sharing with me what this plan is?"

Chris and Eddy took their turns explaining what the plan was, which was at first sorta working... but then it quickly dawned on the two lads that it wasn't working. So, Eddy tells Double D the plan, as Eddy is the man with the plan, so to say. Anyways, terrible rhymes aside, Double D says, "My goodness Eddy. I didn't expect anything of the sorts."

"Yeah. I won't call this a date just yet my friends. I'll think about what exactly I'll try to make this, but Double D, can you get to work on that potion?"

"Eddy," Double D began to speak again. "As Chris previously stated, this is a ludicrous suggestion. It seems more of a jest than anything else. Adding onto this, do you have a single idea of the possible consequences of this potion? It could have seriously concerning side effects! I have an idea as to how we could test it, but I will be taking as many precautions needed to ensure that you don't receive any after effects, and vice versa. I will be requiring at least a day to make this."

"Enough of the concerns! We have to make this quick! Now!" Eddy yells out, before Chris cuts him off.

"DUDE! Slow down! We can use that time to either help Double D our and make it faster, or better yet, figure how you're gonna ask Lee this... whatever you're gonna call it. And stop wishing for everything in a flash! Careful what you wish for, as they say."

Eddy sighs out to calm down a bit, before saying to the two lads. "Fine, I guess you're right. So, Double D, can we start today?"

"Certainly Eddy! Let us make for my garage. Shall we get Ed into the mix?" Double D said.

And off to the garage, with Ed joining in of course, went the boys. Eddy's thoughts were a mess beyond a mess right now, as if he messes up the plan in the slightest bit, it could cost him more than he thinks. However, he is definitely aware of this, but he decides to proceed with it anyways. Either way, he is betting on this whole potion idea to help him out. Of course, he plans to get Chris and Double D to help him in other ways too, but he has yet to tell them about this other plan he has in mind. Eddy definitely has his basis for a plan down, but getting down the actual version of it will take some time.

Sometime later in Double D's garage...

"What's the progress dude?" Chris says to Double D.

"Well," Double D stated. "I have spent sometime researching what chemicals would logically create a substance of confidence boosting, and luckily for us, while chemicals are still involved, healthy foods seem to be involved."

"Really? That's good at least." Chris stated.

"So does that mean we can get it done earlier!?" Eddy said, very excited.

"Yes it does." Double D said. "However, I shall reinform you that I will still be taking precautions as to what the results could be in our experiment. As stated, these can have quite the effects on people, and I wish to ensure your health is in good shape Eddy."

Eddy groaned a bit, as to him, it seems Double D was delaying, but if it meant it's safe, better to be that than sorry, no? Anyway, Chris then brings up an important point, "Eddy, have you thought about how you will ask Lee out for... whatever you call this?"

"No. Can you help me with that? You're the expert with that." Eddy responded.

"Eddy, you should know I can't help with that part."

Eddy stood there shocked. "What? Why?!"

"Uh... does the fact that I have literally gotten into two fights with her, and that in every one of them, I've been very relentless? Yeah... I wonder, WHY could I possibly not help?" Chris said, then laughing a bit. "Alright, for real, Lee does NOT trust me, especially not after the second fight, which ended by being at least twice as painful as the last one. Any attempts by me to... talk or tell her about this is basically a dead on arrival situation."

Yeah... that's a checkmate on Eddy's side. "Alright, I guess you're correct there. But how should I word it? Fancy? Arousing?"

"Okay, SLOW DOWN there cowboy. Let's just start normally, and then see where it goes." Chris said.

"Can I help you guys?" Ed, with a goofy smile, said.

"Yeah... uh, sure." Chris responded, however... how exactly is Ed gonna help? Well...

"Oh oh! Boing!"

Ed said that, while raising a random object above his head. Chris got confused. "What?"

"That mean he has an idea." Eddy explained. "I'll tell you why he tells it like that later, but Ed! Whatcha got?"

"Follow your heart Eddy," Ed began to say. "The mind can only lead you into your self-doubts, but give your pure honesty from the heart within, as we are all secretly hide our feelings within."

Everyone was just... shocked at the fact that Ed spit out those words. In fact, wait a friggin minute! Is this even Ed?

"Ed? Is that you in there?" Eddy said, jokingly concerned.

"Where are the chickens guys?" Ed asked his crew. That didn't last long. Wow.

"Well then. Eddy, oddly enough to say for me... but Ed does have a point. Just be normal and don't put on an act." Chris said.

"I'm good at making action!" Eddy responded. "Have you seen the movies me and the boys made?"

"Yeah, you showed me them one time. Your point here?"

Eddy laughs, and then says, "You know my dude, you don't get all the credit for the movies for nothing!"

"Yes you do, because you gave all the credit to yourself!" Chris said, pulling a checkmate on Eddy.

"Have you ever seen the one where we acted out the dinosaurs or something?"

"Yes, you showed me all the movies, and I've seen them all, they're all terrible, 'movies'! Listen to me, okay? Not to hurt your feelings dude, but you are a mediocre actor. DO NOT act A SINGLE THING on this... let's just call it hangout." Chris responded to that, now REALLY checkmating Eddy.

Eddy rolled his eyes, before stating to Chris, "If you say so, I guess. Jeez, do you guys ever turn off?"

"Nope." responded everyone in the room, as a joke. Eddy laughed though, as all of it is just in good fun.

Once 8:00 PM comes around...

While Double D kept working on the potion... if you're really curious, he basically looked up different things that are associated with being calm. So, foods, smells, nature related things, among the many other living things you can think of. Double D isn't very sure if the potion is going to have a strong effect, low effect, or middle. He can only hope that it logically follows something that makes sense, such as the simple rule of, the more you take in, the more you feel it. That sounds odd, but for this case, it makes sense. Anyways, Double D's main concern was right now, is it the potion truly done? Well... yes, but no. Why? Testing my friends! It's what he wants to do, as if say it has a bad effect, he will know much ahead of time, rather than MUCH too late. But how to test it? Well, he will have to ask one of his friends. Oh this can only go well.

Speaking of the other lads, they got bored of being in the garage, so they went into Double D's living room and watched some more hilariously horrible movies. Then again, they weren't gonna watch some "sad lovey dovey" crap, or a movie with 7000 explosions occurring, as they just wanted a laugh or two. Or three. Or more. Either way, the main person who was picking the movie(s) was Eddy, as he argued that it was mainly for him today. Chris, annoyed that he used that as his, "justification", simply ignored it, and let him be. However, let's see how they'll react to Double D's news.

"Gentlemen, I have successfully made ourselves the potion needed for Eddy's idea. However, I'm going to require someone who is willing to test the potion as a whole."

"Really?" Chris said. "Lemme at it! Not so much though, Eddy needs it WAY WAY more than me."

Double D poured some of it, just enough to fill a small-medium-ish like cup. The cup was just around a bit taller than your average apple, for an idea. Anyways, Chris, willingly takes it, and...

"Huh... tastes pretty good dude. Although, I'm not feeling... anything."

"Hmm..." A curious Double D said. "Maybe it takes time to do its effects?"

"Hey Chris! Why don't we get your girl on the phone!?" Eddy said.

"Shut up. You're a moron. Wait... why do I not feel even slightly nervous? I normally do...????"

Chris was confused. But I'm pretty sure we know what this means. Although Eddy... being Eddy, decides to take Chris's phone (which he left on a small table) and... oh no.

"Hey! What the heck are you doing?"

"Calling Skylar! We have to test this further!" Eddy said. And call Skylar, he does.

"If this is your attempt at making me nervous, then you failed. Huh... does it actually work!? This is incredible Double D!"

Celebrating might have to be delayed, as a voice starts speaking. "Hey? Chris? What's up?"

"Oh crap, Eddy, gimme that."

"_Perfect, let's see if the sucker breaks." _Eddy said in his mind. Well, let's see now!

"Hi Skylar, uh, I didn't mean to call you, but since I accidentally did, how is everything?" Chris said.

"Good." Skylar, on the phone said. "I'm just relaxing right now, as I'm not doing much. You?"

"Hanging out with the crew, as I call them. Anyways, that's cool."

"Hey... I actually had an idea I wanted to share with you."

Chris raises an eyebrow. "Yeah...?"

"Well, I plan to tell you during school, but for right now, just know that after school tomorrow, I'll make more sense. Okay?"

"Sure, even though I understand nothing of what you're saying. I'll see then eh?"

"Yes. You will. Take care!" Skylar says cheerfully.

"You too." Chris said while chuckling a little.

And the call ends. Short, but now it unintentionally opens another new mystery to the lads. What's most important is, well, the fact that the potion seems to work just fine, and it has no really noticeable effects that are harmful.

"Did you feel anything?" Eddy asked, curiously.

"No. Normally, okay make fun of me, I don't care, but I get nervous around her dude. But that time it was all just... normal or neutral really. Tell ya the truth, maybe I was too harsh on this potion idea, because dang dude, this works perfectly!"

"See!" Eddy yelled out. "You guys just need more faith."

"Fair point Eddy." Double D states. "However, I would like to remind you that you have to ask Lee for permission for this hangout. Have you planned that yet Eddy?"

"Easy!" Eddy said in response. "I'll just leave a note with a thing saying the event and get a approval at her locker!"

"Well, don't think prematurely just yet... knowing how stories unfold. Anyways, Double D, can you keep the rest of the stuff safe and kept away from anyone? We need to save for 'the big day', so to say." Chris said.

"No worries. I shall take care of it." Double D told the crew.

"Now what do we do guys! Mission is successful!" Ed yelled out, excitedly.

"Why don't we just watch movies for the rest of the time? I still have some time to kill!" Chris said out loud.

Well... a twist this is! Wow!


	29. Chapter 29: Remember Tomorrow

Chapter 29: Remember Tomorrow

All the boys really did for an hour or so was just watch the rest of a random movie Eddy picked, as only like 60 minutes or so were left, so it fit perfectly! Either way, once it was over though...

"Chris, have you felt anything else from the potion?" Double D asked.

"No." Chris said. "Now, I'm not saying that this is a perfect test for this thing, as you gave a pretty small dose of the stuff. Maybe next time, we can see if we can try with a higher dose. But be careful though. As for this dose though... yeah I'm not feeling anything right now. Nothing bad, just normal."

"Are you still... not nervous?" Eddy asked.

"No, again. Well, I'm sure it will wear off soon, it's been an hour or so, so... yeah." Chris stated.

Double D was overall satisfied with this result, as the only questionable thing to him was the length of the effect, but nothing too serious to him at least. Regardless, Double D went on to say, "Gentlemen, I do believe it is time for us to be heading to get some rest. We shall attempt to investigate this potion further and see what else can be done about it."

"Roger that. Let's go guys. Thanks Double D! This will help Eddy our for sure." Chris responded.

"No worries." Double D told the lads. "Just get some rest now everyone, as school won't be tolerant of us not resting!"

And rest, they all went to go to. Eddy wanted to talk to Chris about the plan some more, but the latter insisted that they talk about it some tomorrow, due to him being exhausted and wanting some sleep really. Eddy, although slightly disappointed, agreed in the end, then again... he wasn't planning JUST YET to do this whole idea he had.

Next morning...

Everyone just got up and did their usual routines for their mornings, on this Thursday morning. The crew of 4 grouped up together to head towards the school building, but then split into the two groups that, you know... have different classes? Chris and Eddy to Math, and Ed and Double D to Spanish. Regardless, once they arrive, Chris notices something very surprising.

"Oh wow. Skylar is here already."

"I'll leave ya to it." Eddy whispered.

And so, Chris goes over to the table he shares with her, and says, "Surprised that you're here earlier than normal."

"Mom insisted I do that... so I did. Granted, the teacher always comes later than me, so it's not that unimportant." Skylar explained. "Perhaps I could convince her otherwise later."

"Really? Huh... that's strange. Either way... uh, happy to see you, as normal."

"Me too. Oh yeah, remember what I told you about yesterday?" Skylar responded.

"Yes. What's that all about exactly...? That confused me."

Skylar chuckles before saying, "I'm just gonna say this. Have another eye that observes."

"_That is supposed to be a clue? What in the..." _Chris, confused, said in his mind, but then he says out loud, "Okay, Skylar? This is making literally no sense. Is this like some sort of riddle you got for me or...?"

"No silly!" Skylar said while laughing. "I'll... okay, just wait for tomorrow."

"_Why I feel both concerned, yet curious, I'll never know..." _

Chris decides to simply roll his eyes at the ridiculousness that Skylar is doing.

Tell ya the truth lads... this school day was very uneventful for our group. For the most part, sum it up like this: Double D and Marie, as usual, shot each other their "hello" looks, Eddy still thought about the plan, Chris and Skylar talked some more, Ed and May were surprisingly getting along on a really good basis now. Of course, this doesn't mean love at all yet, but it could lead to something special. We don't know yet. Anyway, the end of the school day came faster than you can see your watch, and the lads were glad it came quick, as while uneventful, the classes were tiring to some of the lads. Expect Double D, after all, he IS the brains of the operations. Either way you roll the dice, the last class for the peeps ended, and off to the exit they went!

"Hey Chris! We gotta talk some more about the plan, if you get my drift!" Eddy shouted out.

"Sure. One second." Chris told Eddy, before going over to Skylar, who was about to leave. "I can only hope that... whatever the heck you have planned tomorrow isn't something really bad."

"You're so stupid." Skylar said, somehow both jokingly and seriously. "In a good way. Just trust me, okay? I promise you that... well I won't say you'll love it, but I hope you like it. I gotta go okay? Take care!"

A hug between the two is shared, and Chris responds, "You too."

Chris and Skylar split ways, and Double D and Marie are currently in the VERY quick process of doing the same thing. Marie simply sticks her tongue out and winks at him, and Double D just waves at her to say goodbye. He then joins his group and says, "Gentlemen, I do believe we have more planning to do for Eddy's plan."

Everyone started to walk to Double D's house, as they all agreed at lunch, secretly of course, to discuss more ideas for the plan, and how to improve the potion. However they can. Anyways, Eddy stated, "I think I should get the fanciest dressing!"

"Why?" Chris asked.

"Because! We gotta look good for all the ladies!"

Chris sighed while chuckling, "You're being absurd yet again. Dude, you're not doing anything fancy, remember? It's just a simple thing. Okay? Keep it small, believeable, and just don't go overboard."

"Can you at least pick out the stuff that you think will fit?" Eddy said.

"Yes." Chris responded. "Remember though, I cannot help you out with everything in existence for this. As, keep in mind, Lee doesn't trust me, not a single bit."

"I get that." Eddy said.

Once they arrive to Double D's house, Double D had a list of the supplies he used for the potion, as he felt that in case something were to happen, he can always look back to the paper in case something bad occurred with some dose, or if, simply put, he doesn't quite remember the certain ingredient(s) he needs/uses for the thing. Anyways, Double D decided to make another dose, but since he already has a good idea as to what is used, how to mix things, the timing... do you really need all the details? He can just do it much more effectively, quickly, and... yeah.

However, the other three lads decided to take their time to help Eddy plan the whole thing. Chris brought up an idea. "Why don't you just say something to reassure her about your intentions. Then, you write down the question that will signal your... asking out? No better way to word it, but you get the point."

"Paper?" Ed said, pulling out a random piece of paper.

"Yeah! This will work! Wait... where's a pencil?"

Ed also pulls one functional pencil, which surprises Chris, as he didn't expect that. Either way, Chris wrote down a basis for Eddy to build off of, and once he wrote it down, Eddy got the paper. "Whatcha think of the that?"

"What do you expect me to do with this?" Eddy said.

"Rewrite it." Chris said. "So that it doesn't look like I wrote it. And, REMEMBER TO WRITE YOUR NAME DOWN! If you forget to do that, she will have no idea who it is asking this. Got that?"

"Yeah yeah, shut it! I gotta get this down." Eddy shouted back. Chris chuckles, before Ed pokes him, saying, "Goldfish?"

"What?"

"Goldfish?" Ed asked, proposing the card game.

"Oh! Okay, sure... I'm not certain how to play though..."

"Let me teach you mister!" Ed yelled out excitedly.

Chris and Ed spent their time playing a random game of goldfish, in which the former won, only because Ed was unintentionally helping Chris beat him. Although Ed didn't mind at all, as he wanted to teach him how to play better. It's not like Chris didn't know per se, it's just something that he almost never plays. Regardless, the game only lasted about 10 or so minutes, give or take. And, Eddy, our good lad, finished editing the note so that it sounded like him being the one who wrote it. He went up to the lads and informed them of the news.

"Hey guys!" Eddy yelled out. "I got something."

"Oh yeah? Do tell!" Ed yelled out in excitement.

Eddy showed the lads the paper, and begins to read it.

"Dear Lee, I know that this is hard to believe, especially for myself, but I want to talk. Not in that way yet, geez, just NORMALLY. So, yes or no?"

"That's all?" Chris said.

"Yeah. I couldn't make much, and I wanna save the best for when we begin the actual thing."

"Show, don't tell eh?" Chris, who was surprised, responded. "I like that mindset. When should we deliver this? Or, should I say you?"

"Lunch? We can pretend to be late to joining the group. I'm sure they won't get suspicious." Eddy said as an idea.

"Got it. But we must be quick about it, as if we take too long, someone might get suspicious about us." Chris responded.

At least our lads have a time set for doing this plan, as god forbid they do it inbetween classes. Oh... Double D would have a field day with that. Actually, speaking of Double D...

"Gentlemen, may I please have a word?"

All three lads nodded their heads to say yes, and Dou le D begin to speak. "Well, I've managed to speed the process of making the potion by quite a bit, now that my past experience has assisted with doing so, we should be ready to test very soon. Chris, will you be willing to test the next dose once more?"

Chris laughs a little before stating, "Heck yeah! Gotta make sure Eddy isn't gonna break suddenly. Anyways, yeah, I'm up for it. In fact, I have just the perfect situation to test it in."

"Let me guess," Double D said. "Something occurred between you and Skylar?"

"Well, not exactly. She was teasing me about some secret that she had planned for me tomorrow. Now, I personally have no idea what the heck it could be, but I'm not exactly very... I guess you COULD say all confident about the whole thing." Chris explained to Double D.

"Hmm..." Double D wondered. "Be sure to listen to her to see what she has in store. For all we know, it could be a gift!"

"Dude." Chris said. "I've known her for JUST below a week. Don't you think that's a bit early to be giving gifts yet? Maybe that's just me."

"_Jesus, this guy lives in denial." _Eddy thought in his mind.

"I suppose that's a fair point. Maintain an open mind Chris, and I'm sure all will be well." Double D responded.

"Gotcha, so in the morning, I'll take the dose, and see if anything changes!"

Double D passes the dose to Chris, and this time, it's basically the size of two and a half apples. Granted, Chris isn't gonna chug it all, that's ridiculous. He will take his time taking it, as chugging down stuff like that is unlikely to be in the realm of "good". Either way, Chris takes it, and saves it for his home. Eddy then said to Chris, "We got anymore plans really?"

"Hmm... video games? The movies are getting a little old for me now. I have to finish up something in a game anyway."

"I'll join you fellows in a second. Please give me sometime to ensure that the equipment for said potion does not risk any compromises while we are gone." Double D responded to Chris's little offer. And off to check it, he went. Double D sighed in relief, as lucky for him, nothing horrid happened, as one time, he accidentally messed up his room badly because of mixing two chemicals that don't go well together accidentally, thanks to Eddy pulling a prank on him that particular day. And on everyone too, come to think of it huh? Anyways, Double D simply organized everything to ensure it was in order before setting off with his friends.

While Double D was happy to hangout with his friends, don't get him wrong now... he was starting to miss a particular someone. Yeah, that's obvious. Marie. It's been a while since they hung out, but that's due to the fact that communication between the two has progressively become much more difficult, due to their thing about keeping the whole relationship a secret. The two of them know that, sooner or later, they WILL have to reveal truths. Don't get it twisted my good friend, because regardless of what happens to the two about it, both of them will still love other, no matter what.

The rest of the day was spent doing JUST that, along with some other things between the lads. It was different in the sense of, the games they played were different. Some were shooters, adventure type stuff, fighters, etc. It was all friendly sparring in games. Well, unless you were Eddy, who intended to brag WAY too much about beating either of the other 3. Of course, Chris, knowing more about the games than Eddy, shut him up by beating him in the games... and where the bragging mouth go? Yeah... we know. Anyways, smoothly transitioning back to the main point, at around 9 PM, just like before, the lads all went to sleep, as they just one more day of school and boom! Weekend baby! Of course, Chris still has his potion fill to test tomorrow, just to do one more, and hopefully last, test.

Well... let's see what tomorrow holds in store!!


	30. Chapter 30: The Negative One

Chapter 30: The Negative One

When it came to today's... day of school for the lads, the first thing that had to cleared up first is the thing that Eddy and Chris planned to do. They went as fast as they could to the school, so that they wouldn't be seen by anyone that weren't their friends. Of course, Ed carried Double D while running at the pace similar to that of the other two lads, as Double D's running abilities... well, leave a lot to be desired. Anyways, back to the main thing, Chris and Eddy enter and... mission unsuccessful. Somehow, all 3 Kankers were already there, so putting the note there we beyond off-limits. Granted, one of them could've done a distraction, and the other could've done the process of leaving the paper, but that would've been very much improvised beyond belief, and it's success rate is quite low. So... waiting it is!

Around 5 minutes before class...

"Dang! That sucks... oh great." Chris said, slightly annoyed.

"Now what?" Eddy asked.

Chris thought for a second, before simply stating, "Lunch. That's the only other possible time. But again, fast and quick, like the wind my dude. Speaking of which, lemme get this potion drank and all." Chris said, before drinking the potion right before class.

"Gotcha. Well fellas, I guess we should get prepared to head to class?" Eddy said, obviously annoyed that he had to go to class.

"Precisely Eddy." Double D said. "I shall catch you fellows in break!"

"Cheers my friends!" Ed yelled out.

Chris and Eddy went to Math, and something... or someone, catches Chris's eye.

"Who is that? That looks, yet doesn't look like Skylar."

"Figure it out." Eddy responded.

Chris goes over to the table, takes his seat, and since he has no other way of finding out if it's Skylar, says, "Skylar?"

"Yes? Notice what I mentioned?"

To save you the trouble of guessing, she simply got a hairstyle change. She went with a small ponytail, but her hair wasn't cut in order to do that. On top of this change, add a color change to the list too, as it went from the darkest red, to just flat out black. Chris was too used to the red and long hair style, that when he saw that... is it any surprise why he was confused?

"Oh, uh... yeah."

"What's your two cents on it." She said while smiling a little.

"_Why is she asking ME!!!??? Okay, just answer it dude." _ Chris screamed in his mind, before he, out loud, says, "It looks, well... amazing?"

Skylar explained, "Thanks. I was going to get it changed before this school year started, but I ran into delay issues, and other stuff. Ya know?"

"Uh huh... wait umm... why did you want to change it?Just curious."

"I just wanted a change after three years basically. I liked my last hair style and color too, I just got bored. Ya get me?"

He will not admit it, but Skylar's new look was actually really attractive to Chris, he just kept his opinion about the whole matter... "under the radar", so to paraphrase it. Fun fact, Skylar is the only female now to have black hair, just to let you know.

When it came to the rest of the classes, unfortunately, minus some funny things occurring, such as Eddy pulling a prank with the assignments on the teacher in English, which, hard to believe I know, Mr. Araya found funny, but told Eddy to not repeat that, otherwise he'll be forced to do a punishment. It was when it was time for break, things picked up in activity. Let's see what the girls are doing in the cafeteria.

"So, your style and color changed huh? Marie asked Skylar, as all the girls acknowledged it.

"Yeah." Skylar rssponded. "I told Chris this too, but I'll tell you guys that I wanted to get it changed before the year started, but delays occurred so... sadly I couldn't do it. No matter, I'm happy with it."

"Why did you want it changed?" A curious May asked.

"I had the previous style and stuff for like three years almost. I liked it, don't get me wrong May, but I got bored of it, and wanted to change. Nothing more to it then that." Skylar explained.

Marie was about to poke fun at her in a way, but she held back, as she didn't want to make the change... "weird" or "awkward" for Skylar. I think you know where Marie was about to go.

Speaking of which...

"Chris, do you have a quick second to talk?" Double D said.

"Sure."

Chris was just relaxing on the bench, while the other were playing basketball, but Double D decided to quit, as he wasn't really a huge fan of the sport itself anyways. Either way, Double D asks, "Was the lady that accompanied you and Eddy to English Skylar or someone new?"

"The former." Chris responded. "I thought it was someone else too, but Skylar decided to change her appearance, as she just got bored of her appearance from before. So... we have a new Skylar. In a way, but I digress. I expect Ed to confuse her with someone new though."

The two of them share a laugh at that, before Double D said, "Thank you for informing me of this change. I'll be sure to note that she has changed her look."

"Yeah, no issue. I mean... okay, KEEP THIS BETWEEN US, but she looks great. It's just a compliment, nothing more."

"Don't worry Chris." Double D said. "I understand what you choose to imply with your choice of words. After all, don't we all have our own opinions on the table?"

"I suppose so."

Later... at lunch, more specifically.

Everyone planned to play "spin the bottle" once more, as they didn't do it yesterday, for reasons not understood. It doesn't matter, as everyone got into their spots, and the game started. But before it actually began, Ed got confused, as he saw Skylar with the new look, and did NOT recognize her in anyway. He then says, "Who is that guys?"

"Oh for gods sake." Chris said. "Ed, this is Skylar. Just... changed up."

"Skylar has red hair Chris! That isn't red! Clearly it is a new friend to the town!" Ed said, misunderstanding the situation completely. Skylar laughs a little, as it didn't really bother her, the fact that some peeps didn't know that she changed her style completely. She thought it more funny than anything. Anyways, Ed, unnecessarily introduces Skylar to everyone.

"These are my friends, Double D, Eddy, and Chris!" Ed said, pointing at the specific three. Ed then stands up and points towards the other Cul-De-Sac kids and tells Skylar who is who. Granted, she hasn't exactly met them fully yet, despite having a handful of classes with them. Either way, the trio of 4 say hello back, and then Ed moves on to the Kankers.

"These are the fellow good Kanker Sisters! May, the one who likes the funny, has the long yellow hair! Marie, the one who is dating my best friend Double D, has the blue hair, and lastly, Lee, the one that is like Eddy, has the red hair!"

"Hang on a moment!" Lee yelled out. "What did you say Marie is doing?"

"Oh! Uh..."

Chris, Eddy, and Double D were all signaling to Ed, "DON'T SAY IT!", but...

"Marie is dating Double D! A great love story it is indeed."

Lee, oh no, isn't very thrilled to hear this news. "So, you got some explaining to do!"

"He's probably just thinking about some movie he watched!" Marie fires back, but unfortunately, Lee doesn't buy it. Not, one, bit.

The other kids caught on aswell, "Wait... Double Dweeb and Marie are getting together?" Kevin asked.

"The dog has been made friends with the cat!" Rolf exclaimed.

"They seem too different to be together..." Nazz, who wonders if this is even true.

"Holy moly! Plank, isn't this a hoot!" Jonny said.

Well... in the span of less than 10 seconds, the news of the two lads spread across. Wow. Lee is very much still annoyed, and the fact that Marie lied about it did NOT help her case at all. "So, you think you and continue your lying huh? Well, I'm glad I know now, so that you can't keep visiting him!"

"WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE ME!?" An EXTERMELY angry Marie fires back.

"Who's the leader? And who's the follower, huh?" Lee said.

Marie's frustration is growing beyond belief, and fires back, "IF YOU THINK THAT YOU'RE GONNA STOP ME, THINK AGAIN!"

"And why haven't you fought back huh? Too scared?" Lee said, obviously very unfazed by Marie's attitude.

Marie's anger is getting dangerously close to the "Get This" levels of angry, and we all saw what occurred the last time she was that angry. Oh goodness.

However, Skylar, stood just shocked. What in the world did she even unintentionally start? In her mind, it makes no sense why Lee would say that, considering from what she's seen for Double D, he seems like a good dude. So, this is making no sense to her. However, she realizes that Chris is nowhere to be found. Where is he? Well, actually, he is just about leaving the cafeteria, into the hallways. Skylar notices this and goes after him, to see what's up, and if maybe he has some answers to what's going on. "Chris!"

Chris stops in his tracks and responded to Skylar, in an annoyed tone. "Oh, hey."

"What's uh... wrong?"

Chris sighs in annoyance, and says, "They are about to get into a yelling and arguing contest, and guess what? I'm not about to get involved in this. I've done much more than I think I should've at this point."

"I don't understand." Skylar said. "Is there something to the whole story that I don't know about that explains why Lee just... disapproves of the whole thing between Marie and Double D? The guy seems nice and all, I don't understand..."

Chris rolls his eyes, before saying, "I'm just gonna let you know, there's so much history between the Eds and the Kankers that is important to know why this occurred. Unfortunately, I can't explain it to you here... so... yeah."

Skylar moves up closer to him, and says, "Why don't we talk in private about it? I'll want to know more, so is that okay?"

Chris thought about it for a second, before ultimately saying, "Sure. Where should we go? Let's make sure no one will see us either."

"They're gonna be too busy there anyways." Skylar responded. "But here, I know one place I like. Let's get away from this ridiculousness..."

"Thanks. I despise this stupid crap." Chris, in a emotionless tone said.

"It's alright. Let's go." Skylar said.

And off they go to talk. But if you think that the craziness has calmed down in the cafeteria, oh you couldn't be more than wrong lad.

Back in the cafeteria... oh no...

"WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM WITH HIM?" Marie shouted insanely loudly.

Lee responded, "He can't be trusted! I'll place money on the fact that he's just doing some trick to get to you and break your heart! That's all that men do! They just take from you until they want no more and they leave ya!"

At that point, Marie couldn't take it no more. She uppercuts Lee INCREDIBLY hard, but does that stop Lee though? No it does not. In fact, Lee pins down Marie, and tries to punch her, but May gets in the mix, trying to stop them from hurting each other. Lee shoves May away, sending her flying back QUITE a bit. Marie, gets pissed, and literally kicks Lee off with her two feet with insane force, before pinning her to a wall. Unfortunately, Lee dodges a punch to the face, which results in Marie hitting the wall, leaving a slight damage mark.

In a bold choice of action, Lee charges at Marie, and the two of them literally start hitting everything. Such as, the tables of the cafeteria? Yeah, they slam each other onto them, and Marie flips one of them in a fit, plus in attempt to mess Lee up. Marie manages to grab a chair and literally hits Lee with it, but this backfires, as Lee does the same thing by grabbing the side of it and starts to hit Marie with it. Marie manages to avoid a hit, and elbows Lee directly in the face, before pinning her down, but then Lee successfully kick her off, before reversing the roles.

The rest of the people watching were split into two sides. First, the people chanting "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!", and randomly making "Ohhh!" or laughing noises. As for who they are cheering for, it doesn't seem like that matters to anyone there. Second, the other group of people being the Cul-De-Sac kids, who just watched, shocked, dumbfounded, confused, or a mix of all three.

Speaking of which, The Eds can't really do anything, as they would end up in a situation like May did. However, Double D couldn't believe what was happening. It all seemed like some bad horror movie. None of it seemed real, yet it did in a really weird way.

"DON'T GO NEAR HIM!" An angry Lee yelled out, but Marie growled loudly as a response to what she said, only fueling said conflict.

"Lee Kanker! Get off Marie this instant!" Mr. Araya yelled.

Mr. Muta and Mr. Araya entered the scene, after they were told from a student who witnessed the commotion what was going on. They IMMEDIATELY went to see what the heck was going on.

The two sisters were trying to hit each other, but the kept countering each other's hits, and it was just a stalemate for the both really. Of course, Marie stopped at the moment that Mr. Araya yelled that out, but this let Lee get three hits to the face, along with a hard elbow to the face. Mr. Muta runs in and gets Lee off Marie, before anymore bad stuff occurs. The two teachers, are anything but amused.

"Lee and Marie Kanker, go to the principal. Now." Mr. Araya said to the two ladies.

Marie does anything but that. She storms out of the cafeteria doors, and... disappears from the scene entirely. Lee couldn't do the same thing, as Muta walked her to the principal's office. Everyone was either laughing, shocked, dumbfounded, confused, or a mix of some of those emotions. Or all. Double D knew what he had to do. Marie was his current priority, and he had to go after her, as god knows what will happen if he doesn't accompany her right now. But Eddy and Ed? Well...

"Ed! What the heck is wrong with you? Why did you say that? WE HAD TO KEEP IT A SECRET!!" Eddy, very irritated, said.

"I'm sorry Eddy. I wanted to introduce our new friend to our fellow pals!" Ed, in a slightly upset tone responded.

"Ed, THAT GIRL IS SKYLAR WITH A DIFFERENT HAIR COLOR AND STYLE! How did you not see that?"

"But Eddy, didn't Skylar have red hair? And wasn't it longer?"

Eddy groans in utter frustration, as Ed is failing to understand the point of, that "new person" is just Skylar in a new look in terms of hair. May, joins in on the conversation, and she is... full of conflict, to say the least. She isn't injured in anyway really, at least not much, but she is very much disappointed with Ed, but at the same time, she understood that Ed... isn't 100% "there" when it comes to very specific details about people. She didn't know what to think about her crush right now. All of it was just conflict.

We should probably check on Double D. 

Double D is speeding across the hallways in a manner that he usually never does. Until, he sees that the janitor's room is open, and there was a shadow that he could see of a person he already knew. This is actually the same janitor's room as when Double D found May crying, due to Ed rejecting her. That's a whole other story. Double D enters the room, and sees Marie, with her back facing him.

"Marie?"

"WHAT DO... Double D?"

Double D shoots the smallest of grins, and he enters the room, closing the door in order to give themselves privacy. Anyways, Double D asks Marie, "Are you alright Marie? I'm very much worried about what Lee did to you."

"I'm fine!" Marie, very much frustrated, responded. "It's just..."

Here come the tears. Yeah... Marie couldn't even spit out the words she wanted to say, as she just didn't get why Lee is the way that she is. Double D, just decided to comfort her, by holding her as tight as he can to him. Sometimes my friends... it's better to try to comfort people, then it is to try and resolve their issues 100 times out of 100. Regardless, Double D just had no other means to resolve this crap right now, and it didn't help either that this occurred at lunch. Granted, it's better than the break, because god forbid they be late, but the problem is that how much will it take up now that it occurred at lunch?

Back to Ed, Eddy, and May.

"Now what? We are left here now, without Double D, and without your two sisters..."

Eddy pauses for a second, because he realizes something.

"What?" May asked.

"Where the heck did Skylar and Chris even go!?!" Eddy asked in utter confusion. Obviously, he missed when the two of them went outside in order to, one, avoid the inevitable drama that was going to occur in the cafeteria, and two, for Chris to talk about some stuff that Skylar didn't understand, so that it made more sense why that occurred.

"Maybe they went to find aliens?" Ed said.

"Ed! Zip it!" Eddy IMMEDIATELY fired back.

"I don't think Lee is going to be in school for the rest of the day..." May boldly stated.

"Yeah." Eddy said. "I doubt Mr. Antonucci will be thrilled about this craziness. He's one rude teacher."

"Principal, he doesn't teach." May responded. "But yeah... I can only hope mom isn't home, because she doesn't need this news on the first week."

Speaking of Lee... in the principal's office.

Mr. Muta explained what the situation was that occurred In the cafeteria, to Mr. Antonucci. Muta explained it that Lee provoked Marie in some way, and started a fight where the two fought, but Lee, after being ordered to stop, still threw punches. Lee remained silent, as if she were to do a "fireback" at what he was saying... let's just say it would be like trying to put out fire with gasoline. Two uses of fire there. Funny. Anyways, after Muta explains it...

"Lee." Antonucci stated. "I would've thought you smarter than to cause trouble for yourself on the first week. You realize that this doesn't give you favorable circumstances. You disappoint me. You will be suspended for today, and for the rest of next week, you will serve after school detention. Miss it, and it will be extended. Understood?"

Lee shook her head as to say, "yes", and Antonucci writes the information down. Mr. Muta leaves the office to join back and help out Mr. Araya with anything left in the cafeteria.

"Is your mother available to pick you up?"

"No." Lee said, with a hint of frustration.

"You shall have to go home by yourself, as class isn't far than starting. Please be careful."

Before Lee leaves the office, Mr. Antonucci gives her a note, noting what happened, the punishment, and also adding how she got home.

"Learn from this." Antonucci says.

Lee seemingly ignores that statement, and walks out, slamming the door. Oh goodness...

Back to Ed, Eddy, and May.

"Now what happens? We still got like two or so classes, and like half of us are missing!" Eddy said, in utter annoyance.

"What do you mean, what happens?" May said. "We just keep going! We have no other thing to do, and we still have the others too."

"Have anyone seen them?" Ed said, curiously.

Eddy wanted to look for the other 4 people missing, specifically Double D, Marie, Chris and Skylar, but he wasn't sure where to even start. After a second of two of thinking, he said, "Forget it. They'll show up for class anyways, as the teachers seem to have this thing against kids being late."

"I know Double D went to go talk with Marie for sure, but where did Chris and Skylar go? They just disappeared!" May said.

"I don't know." Eddy said. "Hope they aren't doing anything stupid. I can only pray that Double D is just comforting Marie..."

Speaking of Double D and Marie...

Double D and Marie spent 10 or so minutes being in each other's arms. The former just wasn't sure what to say, and quite frankly, didn't want to say anything. The main reason was, simply put, all of this felt like a "heat of the moment"... moment, and to come up with resolutions already seemed ludicrous. Strangely enough, Marie also wanted to speak, but she couldn't find the words in order to express her emotions. She was just insanely overwhelmed, as the fact that the way the relationship with her and Double D was revealed, was not at all how she wanted it to go. The fact that Lee reacted the way she did and caused that big scene was of no help either.

"Double D?" Marie said, finally being able to speak.

"Yes?" Double D responded.

"I don't know what to do now..."

"Well," Double D stated. "It's too early to think about that Marie. I would much rather be concerned for the possible injuries that Lee left on you. Are you currently okay?"

"Yeah, sorta. Some pain, but it will pass." Marie said, managing to make the weakest of grins. Double D grins back a bit at her, even though he thought she was underestimating the injures.

Marie then brings up the fact that there isn't much time until class, saying, "I wish we could stay here, but class is about to start. I know you care about that so... yeah."

Double D thought about how he was going to deal with the whole situation, and he decided on something... very much unbelievable. "Marie... I wish to stay here with you, I will be okay missing just the beginning of class, if it means that you will progressively feel better."

Yes, don't get Double D wrong, he DOES consider his academics very much important in terms of shaping what he wants to do and all, but right now? That's just unimportant, as one, it's barely the start of the year, and two, honestly? His girlfriend is more important to him right now. Especially considering the circumstances, he can really only just be here, after all... he had to show that he would be there for her too, and this expresses that. His friends will just have to wait for him and Marie really.

Back to Ed, Eddy and May once more...

"Great, now class is about to start, and I have to go to Spanish all alone, because Chris and Skylar just left us here!" Eddy exclaimed, in slight annoyance.

"Where did they go exactly? I still haven't seen them anywhere." May said.

"Maybe they went on an adventure guys!" Ed randomly stated. Eddy only groaned in response to that.

Honestly, that's not a bad question... where the heck are Chris and Skylar at???


	31. Chapter 31: Same Ol’ Situation

Chapter 31: Same Ol' Situation

How is this just a "same old situation"!? Aight, whatever. Ahem...

Well, my good lads, picking up where we left off... Chris and Skylar went to a tree that was nearby the school, and simply talked about some... rather important things. To save you the time, Chris simply was explaining ALL of the history between the Eds and Kankers. At least, the Eds perspective on everything. Needless to say, all of this information to Skylar, was just absurd beyond absurd. She would've never guessed that Marie acted like that towards Double D before. Either way though, she was still willing to have the three sisters as her friends, as Chris did mention that they seemingly stopped doing that ridiculous stuff.

"Wow." Skylar spoke. "The Eds told you about all of that?"

"Yes. Ridiculous, I know. If I were them, I would've retaliated in an ugly way if that went on for as long as they said. But, then again, I can't really say I know the Kanker's perspective on the way they saw things. I doubt it's any different though." Chris responded.

Skylar shook her head to signal that she understood, but then she asks, "So... why exactly did they stop acting like that?"

"Ask me?" Chris stated. "I would assume it relates to another story. Which... sorry dude, but we will have to talk about it another time. I'm just exhausted out of explaining all of that turmoil."

"It's okay." Skylar responded. "You know... I kinda wanted to ask you something."

Chris says, "Yeah...?"

"I... well... would like to perhaps talk to you more outside of here? Over the weekend?"

"Sure." Chris stated in a normal voice. "As long as your parents are fine with it, I'm cool with it. My mom is most likely gonna be home, but if she is, she'll invite you with open arms, do not worry."

Skylar smiles at that statement. At least they will not run drama between trying to organize the whole thing.

The two of them sit there, in slience really, as neither of them know what to say to each other. I mean, obviously it's not like there's hidden tension or some random feud, but it seemed like they hit a roadblock. Then again, Chris is currently under the influence of the potion he took earlier this morning, so while yeah, he isn't nervous... he also isn't energetic. That sounded like a bad thing, but remember why he is doing this. Anyways, in order to break up the slience, Skylar asked, "Why did you actually wanna come here?"

"Huh...?" Chris said, not fully understanding her.

"Did you actually just wanna talk to me, or was it really to get away from everything that was about to occur?" Skylar explained further.

"The latter." Chris responded. "Look, I would've been on Marie's side on the whole argument, but I wanted ZERO part of that endless back and forth yelling that was about to occur. That's the reason."

"I see." Skylar says. "I still don't quite get it fully, truthfully, but I'm on Marie's side too. She should be allowed with anyone she wants. Who is Lee to decide that for her?"

Chris rolls his eyes and says, "You read my mind."

The two were staring at each other, and... just a silent 10 seconds before they broke it off. Neither of them said anything, just... stared away. Although, Chris did say, "I will say, even though it wasn't the main purpose of coming out here, talking to you is nice."

Skylar responds, "Thanks. I really appreciate it."

Chris actually realizes he has another question for Skylar, so he proceeds to say, "Hey."

"Yes?"

"So... I've actually been curious about something." Chris said.

"Yes?" Skylar repeated again, just more... extended.

"What is-"

Chris was interrupted by the fact that he heard the bell ring, and the two of them knew what that meant.

"Nevermind. When we talk... how's tomorrow?"

"Sure... but I don't know what your address is." Skylar told him.

"I'll tell ya once school is over. Let's get to class, and not be late, shall we?"

Skylar simply nods to say yes, and the two of them proceed to go into the building. Luckily, the two of them were not THAT far from the doors, as they kept that in mind in order to not be late. But oh boy... they missed out on what seemed like the apocalypse.

When they go to Spanish...

"Oh boy..." Chris said out loud.

"What's wrong?" Skylar said, with a hint of concern.

"Well," Chris explained. "We are about to find out what the heck we missed. I hope it's not too severe..."

That's the million dollar statement right there! Anyways, once they take their seats, Eddy then says to them, "Where the heck did you guys go?!?! You missed everything that happened!"

"Long story short, I, and Chris too, didn't want to get involved." Skylar responded to Eddy.

"Oh man, you guys are in for a treat when we get outta here..." Eddy said, very ambiguously to the two lads.

"Yeah... I bet." Chris responded to Eddy.

For the record lads, the rest of classes just had unspeakable tension. In fact, what was usually a bunch of chatter during the last classes, turned into slience that everyone knew was just awkward. But who was to speak of what happened? Not Ed, not Double D, not Eddy, not Chris. And... well... not May, not Marie, not Skylar either. Everyone simply just sat there. Oh yeah, speaking of Double D and Marie, the two of them ended up being 20 minutes late to class, but luckily for them, Mr. Muta understood them, as Double D explained the whole situation to him, therefore, any and all trouble they were excluded from. Not that they would get any, but... okay, better choice of words, any and all POSSIBLE trouble, they were excluded from. Anyways, the two lads were mostly fine for the rest of the day, but they both agreed to talk as soon possible about what the heck is the plan now really. One thing that was an issue though was... Marie didn't exactly want to go home, as oh boy... I don't think it's any wonder why that's the case. Double D decided to tell her that he will get a plan by the time school is over.

On the flip side, before Double D and Marie returned to class however, the former decided to patch up the latter, as... is it any surprise that she had to get patched up after what occurred? I didn't think so. Anyways, while Double D can't do the possible internal pains (obviously), he does what he can for the outer pains, as he can very much patch those up. Of course, Marie is thankful for this, as... rare is it for a persona to care for someone's wounds to the extent that Double D did.

At the end of school...

"I don't like this..." Skylar said.

"Me neither." Chris responded. "But tomorrow, we will talk some more alright? Oh yeah... here you go by the way, my address for tomorrow. See ya then?"

Skylar smiles a little, and says, "You betcha dude. I'm glad to meet ya outside of here soon. If only the circumstances were better..."

"Hey, don't worry." Chris states. "It's not ALWAYS going to be because of world wars occurring in the cafeteria."

The two share a bit of a laugh at that statement, before Skylar says. "Yeah, I getcha. Anyways, hopefully things go well for us tomorrow. See you."

And the two share a hug, like usual, and they split up. Chris goes to his friends, and notices an unusual situation. Hey, going against the title there! Regardless, what he notices is that Marie and May are accompanying the lads, which is unusual, because usually they just go to their trailer and then the boys go their own route. Not this time.

"Hey uh... what's going on?"

Eddy was the first to speak, saying, "We need gotta meet up dude. But where?"

"My house." Chris immediately responded. "My mom isn't gone today, as she's at work, so we are free to meet up and discuss... well... what in hell's name I just missed."

"You are in for a story." Marie said.

Chris notices that Marie looks... very beat up, to say the least. He then says, "You seem like you took a hit dude. You alright? I assume Double D took care of your marks?"

"I'm fine. And yes, he did. Isn't that right?" Marie said, while pulling Double D closer to her. Double D, of course, had to respond, so he said, "Indeed. Although, the recovery of such damage could take a while so... Marie, please ensure you don't engage in anymore physical contact like that."

"Oh don't worry. I won't. Except... this."

What is this... "this"? It's literally a kiss. And it leads into a whole making out thing between the two, before Eddy, after 10 seconds or so, says, "Jeez guys! Get a friggin room for crying out loud!"

And the two of them stop, before realizing what just happened, but they didn't mind it. However, Chris stated, "Save it for when we are done. We aren't out of this at all."

After around 5 or so minutes, they all get to Chris's house, and take their seats in the living room. Ed and May say together, and so did Double D Marie. Eddy decided to sit on a solo chair, as he didn't want to be the 5th wheel, so to say. Chris does the same thing, although once they all settle in, Chris offers drinks (not THOSE drinks) to the lads, and then they starts speaking about what the heck just happened.

"So... what did I miss? The full complete story! No making up!" Chris stated.

"Well, to cut the story as quick as possible..." Double D began to speak. "As you saw, Ed accidentally stated the fact that me and Marie were in a relationship, and unfortunately Lee proceeded to act in a very uncivilized manner, in terms of responding to the whole situation. This escalated into an argument between Marie and Lee about the authenticity of the relationship... in which... oh goodness..."

"What?" Chris asked.

"We fought for a bit." Marie said, continuing the story. "She got most of the hits, I'll admit, but she knows that I don't back down easy, so I payed her back. Some teachers got in to stop us though. And that was the end of that."

"That's all?"

"Yeah." The couple responded.

Eddy then joined in the conversation, "Where did you and Skylar go? You threw me, Ed and May off!"

"Eddy, me and her already explained it to you." Chris said. "I didn't want to get involved with the whole thing, and she didn't either. So we went outside and just talked, avoiding the whole situation."

"And what happened? Hmmm...?" Marie asked, teasingly.

"_For heaven's sake..." _Chris said in his mind, before then stating, "I already know what you're thinking. It was NOT a romantic escapade."

"Sure..." Marie said, before laughing.

"We have something to resolve." Chris reminded. "And we can make fun of me later, once we get this crap fixed. Got it? Thank you."

"But what exactly can we do now? Lee isn't going to listen!" May exclaimed.

Chris thought for a bit before saying, "I have an idea. But... it requires well... quite the 'support', dare I say."

"Details?" Double D asked.

"Well, we can all together explain why Lee's whole concept of 'Double D equals bad' is incorrect. First off, dude... were you faking this whole thing, I would INSTANTLY call you out about it. Second, and Marie, feel free to disagree, you haven't done anything that warrants some questioning, correct?"

"Of course he hasn't!" Marie said, making Double D blush slightly. Chris then continues, saying, "Yeah. We gotta explain it to her. But today is absolutely NOT the time, as she is most likely too frigging furious with... basically all of us. Tomorrow, we, or should I say, me and the Eds, will visit. Most likely in the afternoon, so be ready."

"But what if a scene occurs like today? Or those other two times!?" Eddy asked.

"Relax." Chris said. "I will handle it differently. I'll go on the more defensive side, not offensive. I've done the latter too much."

"At least you care enough not to hurt her more." May said.

"I mean, I can easily do it over and over... but that's pointless, I wouldn't want to, and... need I explain more?" Chris said.

Well, at least we won't be getting repeats of the situations back at the Pit, and the night that the Eds were kidnapped. So, new flavors! Nice!

"Now what?" Ed asked, who has remained silent.

"I think we split at this point. Unless you wish to do a hangout?" Chris said.

"I'm in!" Eddy yelled.

"Count me in too!" Ed yelled out in unison.

The girls were kinda conflicted as to whether or not they could spend some time with the lads, because if they don't return home soon, Lee COULD get angry at them, and they certainly don't need that right now. But... on Marie's side, she wants to spend more time with her boyfriend outside of... well... "private" interactions. And May? Well, she wants the same thing with Ed, except in her case it's because she wants to talk to him more outside of school. The two of them are now on a REALLY great basis, as they are no longer having awkward pauses between their turns talking, and in general, the two of them seem to play off each other. So... the girls say, "Heck yeah!"

"Double D?" Chris asks.

"Certainly. It will be a deviation from our usual time of only us four." Double D responded.

In the time that they were spending together as a trio of six, they basically spent time playing some board games Chris brought out. He found them in the scrap box his dad had in the garage, and while the boxes were... in quite rough shape, the games themselves had everything you needed in order to play. For example, there was a Monopoly board game, and it had everything, although the manual had some rough wear. Another example was a 500 piece puzzle of a painting, specifically, Mona Lisa. The Monopoly game ended up in Marie winning, as she had actually played this game before, and the puzzle ended up being finished by Ed... very surprisingly. Anyways, they spent an hour in total doing that, until Marie mentioned, "We would like to stay, but if we don't get home... Lee won't be happy."

"Fair enough." Chris responded. "Take care you two!"

"Adios Ladies!" Ed yelled out, and waves at May in the process. May ends up blushing at that a little, before leaving out the door. Marie speaks to Double D however, before leaving, saying, "I'll try saving some pain, but take care sweetie!"

Double D smiled at her before sharing a kiss, and Marie leaves through the door. Well... now what's next?

"It seems we have the rest of the time to do anything we want." Double D stated.

"I need a break dude." Chris said. "I'm just sick of this nonsense right now, and I want to rest up a bit at least."

Eddy responded to Chris, "I getcha. Come on guys, we will meet up later."

Chris reassures the lads by saying, "Don't worry, it's just that I want a break and rest, nothing more."

The lads bid their farewells for the day, and they all split into their homes, off to do... well, whatever they feel like doing. If you're Ed, it's probably read some comics and eating gravy while you're at it. If you're Double D, it's probably working on some possible school work, or looking at a new type of experiment. If you're Eddy, you're probably looking at some magazines... of some stuff. And if you're Chris, you're probably listening to some Metal or watching some hilarious videos. Take your pick!

However, what about the girls?! Well... uh...

May and Marie both are nervous, as they go home, because it feels like it's a giant wheel spinning determining how Lee is going to be when they get home. I mean, after what occurred in the cafeteria today, is it any surprise that they are thinking that way? I doubt that. Anyways, as they keeping getting closer to the trailer, while Marie might not be the most "forceful", "strong", or whatever of the sisters, she is clever in more ways than one. Of course, she only plans to do... whatever she plans to do in case Lee starts to freak out on them both, but if she does, Marie will not hesitate. 

Where is this going...? I have no clue. 


	32. Chapter 32: Knock ‘Em Dead, Kid

Chapter 32: Knock 'Em Dead, Kid

We are going off the rails, aren't we? Oh goodness...

Anyways, Marie and May enter their trailer, and as a large surprise from them, Lee isn't in the living room. Where then could she be? Well, she actually is nowhere on the first floor of the trailer, she is actually in the bedroom of the sisters, currently talking a nap. Now, as to her mood? That is up to you to think or decide, as it seems that she didn't even feel her sisters come in, and in general... she's just not awake really.

Since this is the case, and Marie sees that Lee isn't going to be obnoxious, she tells May, "Come here."

The two sisters decide to sit down, and make their own plans, because yeah, they both have confidence in what they made with the lads... but they want to be secure, JUST IN CASE, ya know?

"Are you sure tomorrow won't go crazy?" Asked a concerned May.

Marie simply says, "Yes, relax. Lee isn't going to win anyways, she should know that. I can hope that she isn't so stupid. Look, Lee just needs to quit that crap and LISTEN for once! I wanted to try and talk, but nope! She did that stupid stuff!"

"Don't call Lee that!" May backfired at Marie, before cooling down and saying, "I guess you have a point, but how exactly can the boys help us?"

Marie responds, "They'll vouch for Double D. After all..."

Marie doesn't even continue her sentence, as she enter a... trance, per say, at the sound of his name. May looks confused, then she snaps her fingers in front of Marie, which snaps the latter back to reality. That was easy.

"Right, as I said, they will vouch for him. I can only hope that none of them do anything that makes this worse."

May nods her head in approval, and they both share the feeling that maybe it's not too late to learn how to love, and forget how to hate. Yes, that means what you think it means. Anyways, the two sisters simply discuss other things. Such as... well...

"What should I do for him?" May asks Marie.

"Whatcha mean?"

"Ed." May asks. "I think we can go for a date!"

"Shhh!!!" Marie says, not wanting to be loud, in case Lee woke up. But then she says, "What makes you say that? Or are you just saying that just to say it?"

"Hey!" May said. "Well... he and I now talk most, if not all the time."

"Just make sure he doesn't spoil your relationship..." Marie said, obviously annoyed at Ed's stunt.

Yeah, everyone was not exactly very glad at Ed for what he did, but for the record... it's Ed. It would be a LOT more different if say, Eddy did it, but Ed is just an innocent young lad. I think it's reasonable enough to let him go. After all, at least there's a plan to fix this anyways. Regardless, back to the original topic at hand, May says, "Yeah... but what should I do?"

Marie then gets an idea, saying, "First off, ask him out on a date, or wait until he does, then... I know just what will make him go crazy! In a good way, don't worry."

May then raises an eyebrow, stating, "You aren't trying to pull a prank, right?"

"No!" Marie responded, while chuckling, "I'm serious. I'll getcha all ready, but we have to get this crap done first."

The sisters spend some more time speaking together about some more things, as really, time to talk about their lives, to the sisters really, seemed really rare and not very common among them. They both actually enjoyed talking to each other, of course there's still the "making fun of each other", aspect, but it's not all just ridiculous and over-the-top.

Speaking of which, oh ho boy! Let's see how this goes. Lee actually wakes up and notices her sisters in the kitchen, just making their lunches that they usually make after school, and... says nothing. Not even anything... just emptiness. She simply decides to turn on the TV and watch the sequel to Fish-Bowl 2 again, Fish-Bowl 3. What? Did you expect a fancy name for the third installment?

Marie and May notice this, and, luckily they just finished up their lunches, so they go upstairs in order to continue their conversation, as they both knew that Lee was 110% going to be eavesdropping. But neither of them are having none of that stuff.

The tensions for the sisters only stayed for the rest of the day really, as... good lord man, they either remained silent near each other, or... maybe a one or two was said, but let's be honest, compared to normal, this just isn't how they normally are with each other. It's basically like walking into a calm beach after a hard wave just washed over it, and the wave is now calm. Terrible analogies aside, the girls managed to stay through the whole day with each other, even with basically 0 speaking.

Although, once it's 9:30 PM, two things occur. One, Lee actually ends up being the first one to go to sleep, most likely due to the fact of not having anything else to do really. Two, Marie and May decide to talk to each other about a certain topic or two some more.

"How did it actually go?" May asked Marie.

"What?"

"Your date with Double D."

Marie realizes that... that's what May meant, and responds, "Awesome. He's a gentleman, I'll tell ya."

The two sisters share a laugh, and Marie proceeded to tell all the details about the date, such as, the dinner they shared, the stories they shared, the movies they watched... and the "moment" they shared too, which, Marie also shared the, "embarrassing", moment that occurred, which is more on Double D's part. May laughed out loud at that, as she simply thought it was hilarious.

"At least he asked you if you were okay with it!" May stated.

"True." Marie said. "That's what I like about him, he made sure that I was fine with it, and lemme tell ya May... that's rare."

May chuckles a little, before asking, "Did his friends really help him a bit though?"

"Yeah." Marie said in response. "It was mostly Chris though, as he admitted. He set the table up and everything. I wonder where he learns that from..."

May laughs a little beneath her breath, which makes Marie ask, "What's up?"

"I wonder how long he's gonna take to do it." May stated.

"Oh yeah... him and Skylar. At this point, she should just do it!" Marie said while laughing a little.

May then says, "I gotta say, Skylar looked great with her new look, although did she really look that different to Ed? I got slightly confused at first, but then the voice and everything else said it."

"I mean," Marie said, "I know it's Ed, but jeez! It's not like Skylar had changed her face or somethin! Listen, Ed has always been like that, I know, but how does he think he met a new person based on their hair?!"

May simply raises her shoulders as to say, "I don't know."

Marie then says, "Actually, oh my... remember that time when Eddy supposedly tried to be a whole new person or something?"

"Yeah!" May said. "Carl, was it?"

"Seriously! Everyone was fooled, except Double D!" Marie said in annoyance. "How he managed to fool them, I'll never know. It's so obvious it's him, like it's not even funny."

May and Marie share a chuckle, as yeah, you can only wonder how Eddy even got away with it initially. Marie then mentions, "The worse part was that, he kept changing his appearance after he saw the 'No Neck Chump' insult, and he only got worse."

May then just burst out laughing, "How did people not notice?"

Marie laughs a little too, stating, "You read my mind well."

The two sisters genuinely have a good time making fun of Eddy for that situation, now, HOLD THE PHONE! They are only mocking the thing that he did, not Eddy himself. Besides, in Marie's mind, it was more unbelievable that SOMEHOW, the kids just bought that very poor disguise that Eddy made, as she saw through it like a knife through butter, basically. Either way, May then asks Marie, "Whatcha think of Skylar?"

"Hmm?" Marie said. "Oh. She's actually cool. Honestly, she's just the same as Chris, just some differences and all. Like the whole martial arts stuff."

May then mentions, "Plus, didn't he mention that Skylar invited him to talk outside and stuff when we were at his house?"

"Yeah!" Marie ended up laughing once May brought that up. "I guess I can respect how he wants to take it slowly, but hopefully he doesn't delay this forever! Plus, did you really believe him when he said that it wasn't a... 'romantic escapade'?"

May thinks for a second and says, "I mean... he did sound serious?"

"True, true." Marie responded. "I just hope that whatever he decides to do, it's not stupid. Because he won't be liking his decision if he harms Skylar."

"Marie!" May said. "He doesn't seem like he will do that, so I wouldn't say that. Why would you even say that?"

Marie thinks for a second... and she just says, "Actually... you're right. Nevermind. I'm sure he'll be fine, it's just I wanna make sure that he doesn't harm Skylar."

"I getcha now." May responded.

"Speaking of Skylar," Marie said. "I find it funny that she and Chris are actually in similar situations with school."

May stated at Marie with a face that is clearly asking for an explanation, so Marie begins to explain, "They both are newcomers to the school, and it's their first year and stuff. You know?"

"Oh yeah!" May said. "That's true. I know Chris lives in the cul-de-sac, but where the heck does Skylar live? She must be a bit more far than any of us."

"Most likely." Marie states. "I mean, I'm surprised she isn't late to class, or... I think she isn't late to class. Then again, in the classes we have with her, she is always on time, along with Chris and Eddy."

May nods her head, before saying, "Do you think we should invite Skylar over one day?"

"Yeah." Marie responds. "I'm up to it, but first, let's resolve this issue we have first, then we will think about it. At least she hasn't done anything that would it impossible to invite her over, because I would hate trying to do it."

May simply hums as to say yes, before she says, "I wanna go sleep, it's been fun, but yeah."

"Me too." Marie says. "Hey May?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks for talking sister." Marie said with a hint of compassion.

May smiles, and both of the sisters share a nice 15 second hug between each other. They both clearly enjoyed having a conversation about things that they were both either involved in, interested in, found funny, or a mix of those things, among others.

"Let's do this again, when we can." Marie says.

"Heck yeah!"

And so, the sisters go upstairs and get ready for sleep. Luckily, Lee was actually DEEP asleep, so whatever they were doing meant very little, or just flat out nothing to her really, as her sleep kept her busy, so to say. After around 20 or so minutes, the remaining two sisters go to sleep.

Well, this is promising! I think... right?


	33. Chapter 33: Fuel, Fire, And Desire!

Chapter 33: Fuel, Fire, And Desire!

Ahh... a new day. Hopefully we can get a good refresh today. Hopefully.

Anyways, at the end of the day, our good lads didn't really meet up for anything else, as they were either resting or doing something else. Of course, this varies from persona to persona. Either way though, compared to the Kankers, their day was less eventful.

What about the next morning? Or today?

Well, Chris has already started his day, waking up earlier than usual, at like 7:30 AM. He did not intend to do this, his mind just randomly decides, saying to him, "Oi! Time to wake up bud!". It doesn't really matter to him, as just spent his day with making his simple, yet effective breakfast of some cereal. Afterwards, he just up to his room, playing a video game that's a fighter, trying to memorize moves of a certain character. While his day might be going smooth for now, he still knows about what he and his friends agreed to do today. But he wanted to not worry about that stuff right now, as he wanted to relax his mind, and go in with a mindset that didn't equal the force of 500 punches. Then again, he did give his word to not cause anymore harm, and go on the defensive. Can he hold that promise though? Only time shall tell.

Although, our good friend might be forgetting something _very _important. What is that? Well, at around 12:30 PM, after he finishes his chores for his room, organization and stuff, Chris is called by his mother. "Chris! Come down please!"

"Good thing I'm done. Coming!"

Chris leaves his now-organized room, and walks downstairs, to see why his mom called him. It turns out that someone knocked on the door, but his mom was too busy washing and cleaning, so she couldn't answer sadly.

"Someone is at the door." Maria stated.

Chris walks to the door, and decides to open the door. And he sees... no one?!

"Uh... mom?! Are you sure someone is here?"

Maria pauses what she was doing and checks with him and yeah, she doesn't see anything either. "Weird. Nevermind, you're good."

Chris closes the door, and chuckles a little, before he returns to his room, and decides to put on Black Sabbath's "Paranoid". Unfortunately, not even 5 minutes into the album, the doorbell rings.

"Okay, now I'm certain someone is at the door this time."

Chris speeds out of his room, and goes down the stairs pretty quickly. He should probably slow down a bit, cause that's ill-advised. Anyways, before he opens the door, he says to himself, "This better be someone."

And...?

"Okay, what?"

Yet again, no one is at the door. Although, there's a reason for that this time. It turns out that it was just the mail peeps dropping off the mail. Chris rolls his eyes, as... why would he be excited about some mail that doesn't concern him? Makes no sense right?

"Mom! Mail!"

"En la mesa, por favor." (On the table, please.)

Chris proceeds to put the mail on table, and back to his room. 30 minutes or so pass, and Chris manages to get to the halfway mark or so of "Hand Of Doom", but surprise! The doorbell is ringin again!

"Wow. Okay then."

Chris, again, runs down to answer, and his mother was upstairs in her room, so she wasn't exactly there to answer. Nevertheless, Chris goes to the door, and while he opens it, he says, in his mind, "_This better be..."_

And once he takes a peek at who it is, he says, "_...good."_

Well, I'm pretty sure it's obvious that it's Skylar, who just now arrived to visit him, as that's what she promised him the previous day, right? Right. Anyways, Chris stands there, surprised beyond surprised, to say the least.

"Hey. You see something you like?" Skylar teased.

"What?!" Chris stated, catching himself. "No... wait I mean, yeah! But... oh uh..."

Skylar laughs a little at his slur of conflicting responses. Welp.

"You know what I mean! Unexpected visit, but I guess we didn't exactly plan out the time exactly. Oh well."

"Yeah." Skylar says. "I just planned in the afternoon. Figured it would've been the best time."

Chris nods his head in approval, and to say that Skylar distracted him was... sorta of an understatement. She decided to go with a basically all dark look, with the only thing not being the darkest black is her pants, being grey. Still dark, but not as dark. Aside from that, she wore a jacket that seemed leather-like yet was also pretty thin looking, and a shirt that was sleeveless, and as a last addition, the black shoes she usually wears.

"Right. Umm... would you come in?" Chris said, inviting her inside.

"Yes."

And so, Skylar enters, but Chris realizes his mom is coming, and she proceeds to say, "Who is that?"

"Oh crap!" Chris says, nothing that he failed to introduce Skylar. So, for around 5 minutes or so, Chris explains to his mom who Skylar is, and after Maria talks with Skylar some more, she decides that Skylar is welcome! And so with that, the two of them go to Chris's room, in order to have a more private conversation about... literally anything you have in mind. EXCEPT THAT! Calm your imagination down. Jeez...

"Dang." Skylar comments, noting all the posters and stuff. "You collected all of this or is this recent?"

"A mix. Ace Of Spades is recent, but Painkiller and Diary Of A Madman are a bit old." Chris explains.

As Skylar scans around and all, she notices his collection of like 80 or so CDs she guessed. Various artists were there that were mentioned in this story before, so take your guesses!

"At least I know you aren't pretending to like it."

Chris burst out in laughter. "Dude! Why wouldn't I even? If I didn't like it, I would just be honest! No reason to lie, jeez."

Skylar also shared a laugh, before she sat down and asked him, "So, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah?"

"What were you going to tell me back to school? You were going to speak about something, but then the bell rang and... yeah." Skylar explains to Chris.

Chris sits with her aswell, and says, "Oh yeah... well, I was curious..."

Skylar stares at him with a face that gives an expression of that she is waiting. Chris just says, "...your accent."

"Ahh... so that's what your curious about hmm?" A teasing Skylar said.

Oh goodness, so, Skylar decides to lean in, and attempts to put a hand on his shoulder, but Chris, as if Skylar moving in closer didn't do it, grabs her hand, lightly, and says, "What are you doing?"

"You don't want me to?"

"No." Chris responded. "You don't need to mate, all I am is just curious about your accent."

Skylar smiles before she speaks saying, "Well, I actually I'm not from the areas around here. Basically, my parents are from different places. My dad is from the United Kingdom, and my mom is from Poland."

"Wow, really?" Chris said, very surprised. "How did they meet? If you wanna share of course."

"Don't worry about it. Anyways, the way that they always told me the story was, well... they actually were friends in their high school years, right? At around 12 grade is when they decided that, they really loved each other, and their past experiences really brought them as one. They didn't wanna leave each other, so... they went to college together."

Chris was listening closely, as well, it's not exactly like... everyday someone tells you their story of how their parents met, and what happened that led to their birth. Either way, Skylar then ended it with saying, "I was simply born after they finished their years at college."

"Huh..." Chris said. "Wow. They must been really dedicated to the whole thing. That's commitment if you ask me. Let me ask though, where was this school exactly? Because they came from quite different areas."

"At the UK, mom moved there when she was like 10, as she told me." Skylar explained. "I'm not fully certain as to the reason why she moved there with her parents, but she did."

Chris nods his head, then says, "Well, that's quite the story ya got, enjoyable to listen to."

"Thank you." Skylar said. "But now it's my turn to ask."

"Oh boy... yes?"

"What has occurred ever since that stuff you told me with the Eds and Kankers?"

Chris laughs, before he specifically states, "Well, this is probably the fourth story within a story. Talk about meta..."

Does it get easier explaining what Chris said to Skylar than... he just recounted what has occurred ever since he moved here? From how he met the Eds, the conflicts here and there with the Kankers, the VERY huge fights that occurred, the things that occurred with Double D and Marie, and eventually Chris came full circle, to how it lead to now.

"Wait... how the heck did you do all of that fighting stuff?" Skylar asked, surprised at the fights that occurred.

Chris chuckled before explaining, "Ah, well... I guess you could say that I know a trick here or there."

"Get outta here!" Skylar teased. "That's not all!"

"Okay fine, jeebus." Chris said. "Let's just say that in the moments where you know that fights like that are going to break... it's a fight for your life!"

"Nice, don't get in all the trouble now. Although, how did it feel being in the mix of all that?" A curious Skylar said.

"Well, it was very sudden, and honestly these days, I try to avoid it. I told Eddy this, but those six need to bury this hatchet. And, minus Lee, they are all doing it." Chris explained.

Skylar responds, "At least you tried to manage it the best you could. This is just... I don't know what to say."

"Yeah... I know." Chris said.

Chris then remembers that he has to help Double D with the whole thing, as that's what he and the lads agreed to yesterday. So, he tells Skylar, "Damn! I forgot that!"

"What's wrong?"

"Okay so, today there's a whole thing planned between me and the lads, and what we plan to do is basically, to convince Lee to realize that her perspective on the whole thing between Double D and Marie is just wrong." Chris rapidly explained, while getting his shoes prepared and all.

"So... what now?"

"If we are to talk some more, It will have to wait." Chris responds.

Skylar, however, had a different idea. "I'm going with you."

"No!" Chris said. "I didn't mean to get you into this! Just go and-"

Skylar covers his mouth with her hand and says, weirdly seductively, "I am going. End of story."

"_Clever girl... jeebus." _Chris thinks in his mind. "Alright, fine, just follow with us, alright?"

"Okay." Skylar said, more cheerfully this time.

And so, Chris and Skylar leave the former's house, although Chris let his mom know what's about to happen. Well, he actually just mentioned that he is going to hangout with his friends, so yeah. Moving along now, the two of them decided to get Double D first, as he was the main persona and all.

"One second please!" Double D said, responding to the doorbell going off.

Double D opens the door, and says to the two lads, "Good day Chris! And... Skylar?"

"She visited me earlier today, and she decided that she wanted to join. I didn't argue."

"Liar." Skylar said playfully. Double D states, "Well, while unexpected, I hope Skylar can assist us with this plan."

"Yeah. Let's go get the others."

That, they do. The other Eds were surprised that Skylar joined them, but Chris explained everything, and they understood. And so, they begin their little adventure to the trailer of the Kankers! Everyone generally agreed that the main objective of this "plan", is to just convince Lee that this whole misconception of Double D planning something stupid, an exploit, or whatever you wanna think of, towards Marie is just wrong. Then again, why does she even think this? Double D is the least likely of people to attempt something like that, as he would curse himself for god knows how long.

Speaking of Double D, he was actually nervous for this whole operation, because, for one thing, it feels like it is overly complicated and difficult dealing with the fact that he has quite a bit of people speaking in his stead. The thing is, he needs assistance for this, as he has VERY HIGH doubts that his words will mean anything to Lee. Then again, actions speak louder than words lads. But one issue runs through Double D's mind. He forgot completely that, sure Marie knows, but he had no way of letting her know that it's about to start. Actually, that's incorrect. A phone call.

"_Why Eddward?! Why couldn't you have taken a minute to let her of the possible aftermaths!?" _Double D said in his mind. In his hindsight however, it's likely that Marie wasn't going to be able to respond, as god knows what Lee is doing at her home today. Granted, yes she was calm yesterday at home, but today? No one can tell...

They have now arrived. Fingers crossed...

"So uh... who's going first?" Eddy asked his friends. No one really wanted to take the initiative. However, someone does.

"Let me attempt to begin." Double D said, volunteering.

Double D goes to the door, and he knocks a couple of times, and someone is already coming towards the door. That person is...

"Double D? What do you need?"

May. Well, at least it's not Lee, to the relief of Double D. However, umm...

"May! Who's at the door!?"

Yeah. You know who's coming.

"So, it's the fake boyfriend of Marie!" Lee said. "Whatcha want? I'll be making sure you don't go near her."

"Lee, I've come to have a civil, and polite conversation about your reservations related to the relationship between Marie and I." Double D began to explain himself. Lee, however, appeared as if though she couldn't have cared.

Lee actually decides to step outside the trailer, forcing Double D to move back a bit. Lee notices the that fact, Double D isn't alone. "Why do you got your friends with you?"

"Dude." Chris joined in. "You are being ridiculously exaggerated and just... I don't even know, you're just wrong."

"And what would you know?!" Lee barked back.

Skylar then decided to support Chris's statement. "Lee, I've seen many people in my life, but I wouldn't consider Double D a bad dude. He seems like a trustworthy guy, and I think he deserves to be with Marie. Come on, at least let him get a chance with your sister, as he hasn't been disrespectful yet, right?"

Lee still isn't moved, "Skylar, you are so blind! All guys are exploiting-"

"Stop!" Skylar cut Lee off. "You are the dumb one here. Okay, I'll ask you this, has he done ANYTHING that would make you suspicious?"

Checkmate. To say that, well... Lee was stuck, is an understatement. Skylar does have a point, as Double D is never once exploited a person in his life. And if he did, he would lose sleep over that for the next 500 years. Exaggerated, I know.

"Guys, do you think Double D is exploitative?" Skylar asked all of the lads.

"Nope. Not at all." Chris responded.

"What? That's absurd. I can understand if she said me, but Double D?! Ha! Fat chance!" Eddy said.

"No agreement from Ed here." Ed said in a funny manner.

"He isn't one."

Who said that? It wasn't anyone of the group of 5. Well, Marie just came out of the trailer, who was actually silently observing the situation. She walks past Lee, and over to Double D. "Stop it now Lee. You lost this argument. Even if they agreed with you, I'm not leaving Double D, and that's final."

"May! Your opinion on this?" Lee yelled out, clearly seeking someone in agreement with her. But well...

"They are right! Double D is deserving of Marie, and he hasn't done anything horrible!"

Lee is literally alone in this confrontation. At this point, welcome to the jungle my lads, because how the heck is Lee now supposed to win this? Granted, when Skylar mentioned the fact that Double D has not done anything to spite this concern... yeah.

"While I appreciate your support everyone," Double D said, "I do believe there is a possible compromise that can be achieved here. Lee, what must I do in order to receive your approval?"

"I'll tell ya what you can do." Lee said, threateningly. "Leave my sister alone! She doesn't need you messing her looks up!"

"Lee please!" Double D, concerned about what is about to happen. "Have some decency!"

"Shut it beanie boy! All of you, minus May and Marie, leave!"

Oh, that's unlikely to happen. Why? Well, in response, Double D gets directly kissed on the lips by Marie, and is brought into a position of what appears to look like they were dancing, but really it was just Marie repositioning the both of them. The two, or three groups of peeps, had differing reactions. The lads were rolling their eyes, minus Ed who was confused... again. Oh how things don't change. The girls? Well, Skylar and May found it very sudden, but they just assumed that it was Marie's way of showing that this was going to stay. And Lee? She went over to get Marie off Double D after like 15 seconds of so.

"Get off of him! He doesn't deserve you!" Lee responded harshly, while, oh my goodness, she literally throws Marie off of him.

Skylar got REALLY mad at this. "What's wrong with you?!"

"Stay outta this, you are not needed here, as far as I'm concerned!"

Skylar was about to do something, but Chris held her back saying, "There is no changing her mind, relax."

"Lee, until you have some sense of mortality and maturity, I will be refusing to speak to you for the meanwhile." Double D said, very disappointed with what just occurred.

"Honestly," Chris spoke once more. "I've never in my life seen someone this arrogant and disgusting towards someone else."

"Deal with it! Out!" Lee yelled out. "Never come here if you what's good for ya!"

"She's right I guess. Come on, let's get outta here." Chris said, annoyed. Everyone was beginning to leave, but uh...

"NO! SHE ISN'T RIGHT!" Eddy said, pushing aside everyone. To say that the others were surprised is an understatement. But Eddy goes over to Lee, who is also surprised to see, "her man", yet also secretly slightly impressed. Eddy begins to speak, "Lee, I getcha, you are suspicious of what someone that you don't know much can do when dating a sister of yours, but have some sense of a chance for him!"

Lee ignored Eddy. Eddy isn't willing the give up though, so he, daringly, grabs Lee shoulder and turns her around to face him. Everyone had a face of just, "did he really just do that?"

"How the heck do you expect to trust him when you won't even give him a chance! You haven't even listened to what he has been saying!" An angry Eddy said. There was still no response from Lee however, as she actually was staring into Eddy's eyes. Eddy couldn't really do the same... as her hair was still covering her eyes, as usual.

Eddy wasn't going to get distracted, and quite frankly, his patience was low. "I'm just gonna leave. This is stupid, but hopefully you'll realize that If you can't trust him with this, you never will, ever! Let's go guys..."

With that, Eddy, along with everyone else (with the exception of May and Marie), leave. Everyone is feeling a different way. Shocked... surprised... confused... can you think of more words that end with the suffix of "Ed"?

Although, we have other news besides that though. To say that, FINALLY, the wall of constant persistence was hit for Lee, is an understatement. She really thought about what Eddy said to her, as she sat down watching TV. But her thoughts were broken off when Marie SLAMS the door very hard in frustration. May went to check up on her.

"_Yeah... isn't she mad..." _Lee said in her mind. In fact, what she was watching on TV mattered little to her right now. It felt as though that there was a heavy guilty feeling she has, but she dismisses it as if it wasn't important. There's basically a war going on in her mind, and only she will determine whether or not she either stays the way she is, or if she decides to let Double D be with her sister.

Back with our group of 5...

"That was a disaster!" Eddy said in annoyance.

Double D said in response, "I hate to be the bear of agreeing with pessimistic statements, but unfortunately Eddy is correct. I fear as to the aftermath of this."

"Don't worry Double D!" Ed said, comforting his friend. "The good in people shall destroy the darkness within! It is as in the movies! The light gets rid of the dark!"

Chris, chuckling a tiny bit, says, "That was actually a clever saying from you Ed. Although, I can only hope so."

Skylar sighed a bit in annoyance herself, before Chris asked her, "You okay? You seem a bit down."

"No. I'm fine. It's just like... why is she even like that?!"

Skylar only groaned in annoyance, and Chris, although slightly reluctant, decides to quickly hug her, if only just to let her relax a little. "Don't worry. We will find a way to get her to think twice about this... somehow. Just relax for the meanwhile, alright?"

"Aww, nice to know that you care about me." Skylar said back to him teasingly.

Chris, slightly confused says, "I mean... you are my friend. And I'm your friend too. So it only makes sense."

"Chris!" Eddy said. "I actually just got an idea I got from listening to one of those songs of yours!"

"Alright then. Let's go to my house. Skylar uh... what do you plan to do?" Chris said.

Skylar responds, "Well, home sweet home for me. It was nice visiting you though."

"Wait, how did you even get to my house?! You never mentioned that!" Chris said in confusion. "I didn't even hear a car pull up in front of my house."

"You are really stupid." Skylar said. "I'm just messing with you. You probably didn't hear it because you were blasting 'Hand Of Doom' in your room really loudly. So... that's your explanation."

Chris realized that she was correct after all. "Oh... right. Welp, uh... my bad. Are they gonna come get you now then I assume?"

"Yeah. I just texted them, and they are coming. I'm gonna go now. You and your friends take care okay? Also, Double D, I wish you luck with Marie. You really are a good guy, hope you know." Skylar said to Double D.

"Thank you Skylar. I appreciate that." Double D with a slight smile.

Chris then says, "Catch ya in school then."

"Or maybe tomorrow. You don't know. See ya soon." Skylar said, before giving a hug back to him, and going on her way to the location where she told her parents she'd be waiting for them.

"Wow." Chris said out loud.

Eddy snickered beneath his breath, as the whole situation was just hilarious to him. Double D stated, "At least Skylar seems to be in agreement of our stance."

"True, true." Chris said. "Eddy, you want to talk about this idea that you got from a song? Can't wait to hear this..."

"Heck yeah!" Eddy says. "Guys! Come join us!"

"My schedule seems to be in order, so... I shall be open to accompanying you gentlemen!" Double D said.

"Ed is in!" A silly Ed said.

And so, the lads went off to Chris's house, as Eddy had an idea for... something, based on a song similar to what Chris likes. This is either gonna be the biggest success, or failure of all time.

That's quite the statement, ain't it? Huh...


	34. Chapter 34: Wild Side

Chapter 34: Wild Side

The title is implying something very crazy. Well... I guess we are going to find out what exactly it means? It only makes sense. Anyways... picking up where we left off last time...

Our crew of 4 (Ed, Double D, Eddy and Chris) went to Chris's house to discuss, yet another idea Eddy has, but this time, he got this one off listening to a song that he knows Chris likes. The latter can only wonder what he listened to, and more importantly, WHAT he has in mind.

Along the way to his house, Chris mentions to Eddy, "That was bold."

"Whatcha talking about?" Eddy responds.

"Your speech towards Lee. That surprised literally all of us. Did you even plan that out, or was all of that right there, on the spot? That was impressive either way though." Chris asked.

"You see," Eddy began to explain, "I just felt like she was not giving any room for anyone. Like jeez... Skylar had guts for speaking back to her, and Marie had even more for kissing Double D in front of her, holy cow! But yeah, it was right there, as you said."

Chris nods his head before saying, "I getcha dude. I was a little worried about Skylar though... she seemed very much like she was about to go off the wrong edge. Either way, glad she's fine either way, and you really impressed all of us. Am I right guys?"

"Certainly!" Double D said. "I will have to mention my personal thanks for assisting me and Marie with this relationship dilemma, this is proving to be much more difficult than I had I totally expected..."

"Don't worry. We will find a solution. Or solutions. Whatever happens, we got you covered. And hey, so does May and Skylar too. You got people willing to support ya." Chris said.

The group enter the house, and it seems Chris's mom went to either the grocery store, or perhaps visit a friend. Either way, Chris wondered a bit, but ultimately it helps him out, as he doesn't need to provide ridiculous reasons as to what they are doing. And so, our crew goes to Chris's room, and so... the "idea" begins.

"Alright Eddy... what song did you listen to? That's first."

Eddy thought for a moment how he could describe the song, and he went with, "It's a song about wanting a piece of some action!"

Double D was shocked to hear what Eddy said, while Ed didn't exactly understand. Chris, however, said, "So... 'Piece Of Your Action' from Motley Crue?"

"Yeah!"

"_Where is he going with this?!?!?" _Chris screamed in his mind, flabbergasted, before saying out loud, "What did that song exactly give you the idea for?"

"We could perform it in front of the whole school, and we get some rewards in time!"

Chris only laughed at that idea, "First off, we need to LEARN THE SONG! Second, come on! Don't be absurd about it yielding you some... 'action', or whatever the heck you seek from it. Lastly, we need people willing to perform it. I can probably do the guitar, but who's doing the other three parts?"

"Relax!" Eddy said. "I'm not saying we perform that song, it's a bit too slow for the people to enjoy. We need something catchy, something crazy, something so absurd!"

Chris was chuckling at this idea, secretly though, he likes it. He then says, "Alright... well, I can only think of some songs that fit all three requirements per se, but you'll have to pick."

"Whatcha got?"

"Take a look at my music collection." Chris said. "You'll find something I'm sure. I'm going to get a drink, so I'll be right back."

Chris leaves his room, to go get a drink, but Double D then says, "Eddy! You can't seriously be considering playing a song about saying ludicrous things towards females!"

"Relax!" Eddy responded whole laughing. "I'm not gonna pick anything ridiculous. We just need a good one, think about the rewards!"

Double D sighed before saying, "Well... I suppose it has better mortality than your scams. But the success rate of this is rather low!"

"We will work it out." Eddy said. "Besides... no rewards are received without risk, right?"

"I suppose..." Double D said.

Eddy scrolls through Chris's albums, before coming across an album that catches his eye. "Oooo... hello there."

What album did he find? Well, he found Motley Crüe's "Girls, Girls, Girls", and I think it's obvious why he likes the album. It's because of the title, save you the time of guessing. But the thing is, what song will Eddy decide to pick? It can't just be any, because his ideal song would have to have a catchy rhythm, and something that will get the attention of the crowd. So... what will he pick?

"I'm back." Chris said, entering the room. "You got something?"

Eddy lifts up the album, and Chris could only laugh out loud. "Wow! Alright, this is just getting more interesting. What song are you thinking from that album? It seems Motley Crüe are ever so prevalent..."

"The title track, that looks like a good one!"

Chris then mentions, "Have you even listened to it? Put it on first, then decide."

And that, they do. While they were listening, Eddy admires the style of the song, as he gets the thought of this song being perfect for what he wants to do. Chris ends up just casually listening to it, as he's heard it before, plenty of times. Ed was wondering what the title itself meant, but Double D? He had a face of embarrassment listening to the lyrics. After the song was over, Eddy spoke first, saying, "Perfect! Just we need!"

"Eddy! You can't be serious? Did you hear what the words to the song were?!" Double D said, shocked beyond shocked.

Chris laughs, as he find his reaction amusing and hilarious. "Dude... it's just a song! Relax, you're such a dramatic persona! Besides, there are WAY worse songs than that. Anyways... Eddy? Your thoughts?"

"Double D!" Eddy said. "You're gonna play the guitar for it, Ed can do the drums, I will do the bass AND vocals, and you'll do the second guitar."

"There's only one guitarist for that song... but if you insist." Chris said. "However, one important question dude, are you SURE you're gonna be able to sing the song without chuckling or any of that? Because a tiny mistake or two might not get noticed, but if you slur... yeah, this _might _not go well."

Eddy shoots a grin before stating, "Heck yeah! I know just what the ladies like!"

Chris likes the idea, don't get him wrong, but the thing is... is there a specific reason for why Eddy is doing this? Chris thought that Eddy was going to do the "initiative" with the whole plan with Lee, but it seems like he abandoned that plan 100%. Why? Chris decided to question Eddy later, when it's just the two of them, as he doubted Double D and Ed were going to add anything to convo, and Chris preferred to keep this, "below the radar", so to say.

"So, when we practicing? I wanna perform this on Monday!" Eddy asked.

"Whoa whoa," Chris said. "Monday?! That's only two or so days away dude! Plus, you ready think the school will just 'allow' us to perform like that?"

"Don't worry! They allow you to go up on the stage whenever you want. Plenty of people hangout near there. Besides... the amount of performances that occur are ridiculous!" Eddy responded to Chris's concerns.

"Okay," Chris spoke. "But there's another issue. HOW CAN YOU JUST EXPECT TO LEARN THE SONG IN TWO DAYS?! We all need time! We will at best get the first minute or so, if that!"

Eddy chuckles before saying, "That's why we will get the backup audio in case! Trust me, alright guys?"

"Eddy," Double D said. "This whole concept is absurd, and Chris has a good point. Our time is quite unpromising in terms of learning the precise notes and words."

"Can we just get started?" Eddy yelled out, annoyed.

"Umm... the instruments?" Chris pointed out.

"Right. Uh... to my house!" Eddy said.

Welp. Here we go again. This time, the lads travel to Eddy's home. As for how he has those instruments that they are going to need, apparently, Eddy's father has had his share of playing instruments in the past, that he has basically built a collection inside the garage. Funny enough, Eddy's dad is into much more older types of rock, but he still enjoys the occasional heavy tune here and there. Anyways, with the help of Chris and Ed, Eddy gets the equipment set and It seems as though he and his group can get started.

"Okay." Eddy said. "Hang on, what were the words?"

Chris facepalmed, "Give me a second. I'll get them printed, I'll just need some time."

Chris leaves in order to get the lyrics printed, and Ed asks, "Shouldn't we play it again guys?"

"Yeah, sure." Eddy stated. "Listen closely everyone!"

To cut the story short, they just listened to the song again. Eddy tried to do a "voice over", over the song, but he knew that he would need work. But remember, he has a backup in case this doesn't work. After some time, Chris comes back. "Got the lyrics here."

"What took ya?" Eddy asked.

"The process was slightly difficult, but nevertheless, we got it. Let's try it..."

And so, they play the track... again. At this point, Chris is getting just a little sick of the track, as good grief, it feels like he's just putting this on repeat. Eddy continued to like listening to it still, and he only liked it more as he listened to it. Talk about opposites, Hahahaha! Anyways, our lads spent like an hour or so practicing the song, and to say that it was complicated is a contender for understatement of the century. First off, Eddy forgot that there are backing vocals, so he assigned Chris to do that. Second, Double D would cringe at Eddy's vocals, and it didn't help the subject of he was singing either. Third, Eddy occasionally failed to say a word or two, which led to him slurring, and yeah, they restarted. Lastly, Chris burst out in laughter sometimes, although this was rare, as he just held it in, but he would slip. The more surprising thing is the fact that Ed followed the song's drums VERY closely! Granted, it would be off at some points, but Ed had the mindset for it. Again, surprisingly. The lads eventually took a break for half an hour or so... and back to the practice!

"This is absurd Eddy! Do you even have a plan for how we will replicate the sounds in the cafeteria?" Double D asked.

Chris spoke for Eddy by saying, "I can assist with that. Just lemme work my magic."

"Thank you Chris." Eddy said. "But come on! We've been doing well, right?"

"Depends. I still need to get the middle rhythm and the solo down better." Chris responded. "But Ed! You've been impressing us all dude! Where did you learn that?!"

Ed responds, "I keep my clothes soft and comfy!"

The lads only rolled their eyes, as it was yet another one of Ed's strange "professions". But it was fun tho, and they are thankful for that stuff this time. Moving along, the lads end up finishing their practice session at like 7 PM, as they felt like they were burning up their energy. All the lads felt different, Ed was... Ed. Double D still was unsure about this whole idea, as not only does this seem far fetched to him, but he is inevitably going to feel embarrassed about the topic that the song tackles. Eddy felt like he got it in the bag, he just was wondering for the lads would do. Chris was just normal really, god forbid he, or one of the others had to explain what the song was about. As... it's pretty embarrassing.

While they are in Eddy's room...

"Guys? I have a question?" Ed said.

"Yes?" Everyone responded.

"What's the song about exactly?" A curious Ed said.

So much for not saying what the song was about, hahaha! Wow. Anyways, Chris decided to say, as he was going to be able to explain it better than everyone else. "Hopefully the rating won't go up... Ahem! Well, this song is basically watching girls, that are really pretty, doing uh... dance moves. Also, the song is basically admiring the looks and dances of the girls too. That's basically what the song is about."

Chris toned down the actual meaning on purpose as... let's just say that if Ed began to ask for more details, oh boy, it would be a laughing stock for Eddy, and Chris too, in a way. Then again, the explanation was basically the meaning of it anyways, so there's not exactly anything else he could've added. I mean, does it really have to be more unnecessarily detailed and complicated? Didn't think so... haha!

"Don't worry Ed. That's all the song is about." Chris said, laughing in his mind, but hoping he didn't ask anymore about it.

"Gentlemen, while I've enjoyed our time practicing the fine art of music, even if it's not my personal preference, I would like to rest at my personal home." Double D said to the lads.

Chris agreed. "Yeah. Same here. I need to listen to other songs, because jeebus... I need a break from that song. It's still good though!"

And so; the lads decided to split into their houses, just to rest, because jeebus... it seemed like it was the whole day that they were practicing the song. Granted, they liked practicing it, but saving the process was going to be left for tomorrow, as they all unanimously agreed to do it for then. Anyways, everything is all and well, the lads simply rested themselves, just to relax really. Although, Double D has something going on at his house. Let's go check it out.

So, Double D is currently just in his room, taking a nap, as his mind was exhausted really. From the situation this morning, to the seemingly out of nowhere idea that Eddy has, and the extensive practice that and he the crew did? Yeah... a nap to rest at rest is in order for him. Although, around after an hour or so, he is woken up because of a noise he heard in his kitchen. Double D thinks it's probably either mother or father, but he gets up and checks what's up.

And uh... nothing. Turning on the lights didn't show anyone there either. Double D hears the noise again, and he realizes that it was just him being silly, as it's actually the fridge and that ice cube making noise it makes. We've all been there, right? Double D chuckles a bit, but he decides to resume his nap, as he currently doesn't have any chores around the house to do, and he would prefer to rest some more. After around another hour, Double D is actually about to fall asleep, but then he hears another random noise. But this time... it's 100% sure NOT the fridge, as it was louder. So, it's surely a person this time.

Well, Double D checks and... oh my goodness! Dinner is served apparently. But how did this dinner get made? It's not Ed sleepwalking, because when he does that... food is uncommon to find. And Double D has had no history of sleepwalking, let alone making food this late. The more strange part is that the food appears to be JUST made, like a minute or two ago. And there's a note too!

Double D opens it, and says, "Where you just left, I shall be. Summon me by eating the food."

Although just a little reluctant to do that, Double D decided to eat the food, which was just leftovers from a previous dinner. Whoever this was certainly took their time looking for the food. Anyways, Double D finishes, and again, a noise is heard. Upstairs. Double D rushes to see what the heck is making the noise. And, "shockingly", he doesn't see anything. Lights on? Well, there's a figure that has the shape of a person, who is below his blanket, but who is it?

"RAAAA!!!" The shape jumps at Double D.

Unfortunately, the blanket falls off, revealing... Marie, who then fell onto Double D.

"Marie?! You were scaring me!" Double D said, slightly concerned. Marie only laughed at him, saying, "Aww, did I?"

Marie only leaned in closer to Double D's face, just to be more intimidating in a teasing manner. And, a kiss is shared, while Double D is sweating quite a bit, yet Marie found it more cute than anything else. After a couple seconds or so, she says, "You wanna talk? Don't worry about my sisters, Lee slept early."

"Marie, are you sure it's still a good idea to be here?" Double D said, while getting up and sitting on his , "I'm more concerned for your own safety more than anything else currently. I'm not certain if right now is the best of times."

Marie's response was to just sit on Double D, and get directly on top of him, making this... uh... very suggestive, to say the least. Marie switches her voice to be fitting with a younger tone, saying quietly, "Please...?"

Double D, wow... he was just embarrassed beyond embarrassed right now! The thing was, he should've expected this from Marie, but it's a lot different to actually be in the situation, then to expect it, if that makes sense. Either way, Double D couldn't resist his girlfriend's ridiculous plots of temptation, and says, "It feels as though time is repeating... alright Marie. I shall talk with you. Shall I get you a drink first?"

Marie shakes her head as to say yes, and so, Double D, similar to last time, gets Marie a drink.

Hmm... deja vu much? Hahahahaha!


	35. Chapter 35: Jump In The Fire

_Author's note: Sorry for the longer than usual wait for this one! Had to get it down well. Anyways, I hope you enjoy! :D_

Chapter 35: Jump In The Fire

Well, our lovebirds have quite the amount of things to talk about, don't they?

Anyways, picking up directly where we left off, Double D got Marie her drink, and so... the two lads began talking once more.

"Marie, might I ask, where did you get the idea for the dinner?" Double D asked her.

Marie smiles at Double D before responding, "Well, I just improvised. I can be clever, but not THAT clever. Also, don't ya feel like this is a repeat of the last conversation we had? How I basically tricked you?"

"Well... yes that would be an accurate assessment." Double D said while chuckling. "I will be returning the favor sooner than you think."

"Oh sure..." Marie said, while moving closer to him, basically wrapping her arm around him.

"Proceeding onwards, Marie, I must ask, has everything been manageable on your end at home?"

"Yeah." Marie said normally. "I mean, I'm glad your friends are supporting both you and me. But Eddy was very damn direct! That's not surprising, as it's Eddy, but dang! Never seen like that."

Double D stated, "It was quite unusual. Eddy always had those moments in his attitude where he would be quite up front with what he wanted to say, but never like that. I would ask him why he decided to do that, but he indulged into quite unusual territory today."

Marie got curious. "What'd he do?"

"Well," Double D said. "Eddy apparently listened to a song similar in the taste of Chris's preferences in music, and so, he brought all four of us into his garage, and we practiced a song that... I'm too embarrassed to reveal the true meaning of."

"Oh no you don't." Marie said, and she tells Double D, "If you don't say it, I'll start to tickle you."

Double D didn't exactly want to deal with that, so... "Alright then Marie... why you insist. Ahem! So, the meaning of the song is, as Chris put it, watching really attractive females performing dance moves."

Marie burst out in laughter, as to her, it's obvious what the song is, and the real REAL meaning of it is too. So she says, "Ha! I know the song. 'Girls, Girls, Girls', eh? Why did you guys pick that song? I wouldn't expect you to pick it, I'm so disappointed Eddward!"

"Marie! I'll have to mention that it was my choice, Eddy insisted! I had no say!" A concerned Double D said.

Marie leans in and pecks him real quick before stating, "I'm just joking silly! I know you wouldn't pick that, you'd find that embarrassing among other crap. But why did Eddy pick that song?"

"I have no clue Marie." Double D stated. "Apparently, Eddy thinks he can simply score something by just playing the song in the cafeteria. Like, why must he resort to such superficial manners?"

Marie only laughed at that in response. "He should've gone with something that wasn't so absurd. Who is singing it? You?"

Double D's face went red. "No!"

"I'm just kidding! Jeez, you need to loosen up a bit mister!"

"Well umm..." Double D said. "Moving along, Eddy decided to proceed to take the mantle of singing the song. Everyone else seemed incapable of delivering the words without a hint of laughter."

Marie found the whole thing pretty hilarious, as in her mind, this is just begging for failure to occur. But who knows really? Anyways, she proceeds to say, "When are you performing this?"

"On Monday," Double D responded. "Eddy wants to do it as quick as possible, but I fail to see the reasoning behind such a rash decision as to perform something that takes time THIS early! I mean, we practiced today, and sure tomorrow we will, but how does that constitute as ready for performance?"

Marie felt sorta bad, yet she couldn't wait to see this "amazing", performance. "Just so you know, I'll cheer you on. You have my word sweetie."

Double D shot a smile back at Marie, knowing that at least his girlfriend supports this ridiculous idea. "Thank you Marie. I'll be sure to do my absolute best, but I cannot guarantee anything unfortunately."

"Relax! Do your best okay? You can't please everyone." Marie told Double D.

"Speaking of which," Double D said. "What has occurred in your household ever since the incident...?"

Marie sighs in annoyance before speaking, saying, "Nothing. Lee has been silent, yet again. In fact, she been like that for quite a while now, ever since that incident at school. It's honestly sorta freaking off-putting, like she's planning something behind our backs, and we don't know it. All she does even is just sleep and watch TV or something. I honestly don't know if she is planning something, but if she is and I find out, I'll let you know immediately. But other than that, May and I discussed what occurred this morning in the room while Lee was again, watching FishBowl three. Anyway, May still supports us luckily, and your friends still do I assume?"

"Of course Marie! They all expressed their support in different ways." Double D responded to Marie's question.

Marie then says, "Great. I can only hope that Lee changes her mind already! Seriously, how do you persist with something after like what, nine people are against it?"

"It's actually more around seven, but your point still stands Marie." Double D said. "It's strange this persistence from Lee, as were I to receive major backlash for something, I would perhaps reconsider it. Of course, it does vary from situation to situation, but the point still stands."

Marie then asks him, "Oh yeah, I wanted to ask you something."

"Yes Marie?"

"Skylar still support us too right?"

"Positive of it." Double D explained. "In fact, before Skylar left to go back home, she expressed her support for our relationship, plus mentioning the fact that she believes that you have a correct decision, might I add."

Marie then says, "Nice. Skylar's a good friend, supportive at that too. Actually, now that I think about it, why the heck was she with you guys?!"

"Ah, well..." Double D stated. "As Chris explained to me, Skylar proceeded to visit him earlier in the day. When exactly, I am uncertain of, but I'm sure she was with him in the morning. Chris didn't fully give any details as to what he and Skylar was doing, but I would assume they were simply having a conversation or two about certain things."

Marie actually laughed at the last part, before saying in a playful tone, "Oh! I'm _sure _that's all the happened!"

Double D got confused, missing Marie's joke. "What do you mean?"

Marie leans in and jokingly whispers, "_You think they went there?"_

"Marie please!" Double D said, slightly disturbed. "Have some respect for their privacy!"

"Okay okay!" Marie said while laughing at her joke. "I'm just messing around. But I think I might bring up Skylar to Chris the next time I see him. He needs to do something already, it's embarrassing!"

"I suppose so." Double D said.

"Back to your performance," Marie said, relaxing herself. "Is this song the only one you and the boys will play? If not, what else you got in mind?"

Double D shrugged in annoyance. "Oh for heavens sake, we can only have so much time for performing a song Marie! Besides, I highly doubt we will get magically amazing reception for our performance, but one can wish for the best. Apparently, Chris can 'work his magic', as he worded it, to replicate the sounds that we seek for the song."

"Seems like you and the boys having been making big plans huh?" Marie teased slightly. "And all without me? Double D! I'm hurt!"

"I'm sorry Marie, I just can't predict certain decisions that my friends make that-"

I wonder, oh wonder, why Double D stopped his talking? Yeah, totally not because Marie kissed him. All jokes aside, Marie just shut him up for 30 seconds or so by doing that, and then she says, "Just make sure to look for me in the crowd. Or else..."

Double D shook his head in a mix of confusion and concern. Although, in his hindsight, it was more of another tease of hers. What else is new? Anyway, he responds, "Of course. I certainly hope this conflict between you and your sister does not persist, as family conflicts are not something to treasure."

"Yeah..." Marie said. "Look, I don't expect this dumb stuff to be any easy, especially since gosh, she won't even listen!"

Double D hugs her a little, if only just to cool her down a little bit. "Don't worry Marie, we will get through this. There's still the issue of how everyone is going to be talking about this, but hopefully everyone realizes the actual nature of it all."

Marie then responds, "I hope you're right. But know that I'll still love you, regardless."

"Me too." Double D said while shooting a smile

Marie then gets an idea. What's the idea exactly? To recreate what they did that one night that they had the date. Funny enough, Double D was not seeing this coming, but the moment was something he decided to... well, basically, might as well give into, as Marie was NOT gonna allow him to deviate from this little scenario he is in with her. Besides, he figured it's best to let her get her "fun", even if it's mostly her.

Truth be told, for the next 10 or so minutes... that's what they spent their time. Granted, nothing THAT excessive occurred, and to them, they didn't even realize that 10 minutes passed like that. But hey, at least the rest of the time, in Marie's mind, was spent doing something good catching up with what the heck has occurred, since they hadn't exactly been talking a lot with each other, due to keeping the whole thing a secret. Either way, nothing, and NOTHING, will split her from Double D. Then again, who made anyone god and said, "I'll split you two apart!"? Anyways, somuch for keeping the whole thing a secret now however, ouch...

Double D? Well, currently, he feels like he is in two places. First, he has Marie there with him, which, don't get him wrong, he still loves her and enjoys her company any day, it was just unexpected, her arrival, and how she decided to make an appearance. Secondly, he is sorta concerned with this whole, "song performance", idea that he and the lads made. Yeah, he likes music in general, but this was, for one thing, not his taste, and not exactly something he anticipated doing. Although, that's not to say he's 110% pessimistic, for all he knows, it could be incredible and lead into very new exciting territory! But hey, only time will tells if it stands the test of time. Terrible lines are bad.

Smoothly transitioning back to our couple, after the... "session", Marie said to him, "Okay sweetie, I know it's been fun for both of us, but I gotta go, can't say Lee is gonna be happy..."

"Please be safe Marie. As much as I enjoy your company, I do not wish for you to run into trouble with your sister." Double D said to her. Marie's response was to simply shoot a sly smile at him, and once she did that, the two of them went downstairs, in order to begin their little goodbyes to each other.

"Well Marie, I hope you have a great day." Double D said while smiling at her.

"You too. Take care!" Marie said, and with a kiss to seal the deal, she begins making her way to her trailer.

Double D then closes his door, locking it and going around his house to make sure everything is in order before he goes to sleep. Aside from a couple of dishes he had to cleanup, thanks to Marie's little scheme, everything seemed like it was in order. And so, he concluded that there was no more he needed to do, so rest, he goes to.

As if his thoughts couldn't have been anymore scattered, well... they "kinda" are. Does it make anyone surprised though? I mean, he's got two big things happening, trying to keep his relationship with Marie in check and good standing, although it seems like he is doing a very good job of doing so, at least he wants to believe. The other big thing is just his little performance with his friends. He can only pray that Eddy did not propose this in order to embarrass him. But he can only wait in the end...

And so, the night brings everyone to sleep!


	36. Chapter 36: Neon Knights

Chapter 36: Neon Knights

Hmm... interesting name we have today. But what's the meaning though? Huh.

Anyways, where are we in this fine morning? Well, everyone, which means Ed, Double D, Eddy, and Chris, went to Eddy's house to resume their practice at around 11 AM. Eddy was busy with some personal stuff, so the lads spent their time in the garage having a good ol chat, along with Chris practicing his speed and other things on guitar, as after all, it wasn't like the song that was going to be performed going to be the only thing he could play, right? Either way, he messes around playing the faster tunes, slower but heavy, more clean and ballad like tunes, you get the picture. At around 11:25 AM or so, Eddy finally finishes the stuff he was doing, and so, he joins his friends!

"How are we doing guys?" Eddy asked.

"Very well Eddy, thank you for asking." Double D responded.

"Same here." Chris and Ed simultaneously responded fo Eddy.

Chris then asks Eddy a question, "So, ready to practice? Hopefully you can get the two minute part down better."

"I'll try. It's just hard not to laugh man! You get me right?" Eddy stated.

"Yeah sure, just relax a bit alright?" Chris said before laughing a bit.

And so, the lads begin! Their first take of the song wasn't bad, but Eddy accidentally mixed words up in the last part of the song, which sorta threw the lads off, but it wasn't too bad. Now, on their second attempt, Eddy ended up screwing over the take again, but this time it was at the 2 minutes part, where he says, quote the song, "_I'm such a good good boy". _Oh yeah, I'm sure this is obvious, but ahem. The author does not own these songs, they are ALL BELONGING TO THE RESPECTIVE BANDS! Give them a listen, as they are the bread and butter really! Disclaimers aside, Eddy apologized, but Double D stated that it was okay, and they started the third take. On the third take, everything actually seemed somewhat fine, again not 110% perfect, but good. And for the fourth attempt, Eddy decided to change up the plan a little bit.

"Guys! I think I know what could help me out!" Eddy stated.

"Yeah?" Chris asked.

"What if we just replace the other guitar with more bass?" Eddy said.

Chris was confused at what Eddy meant by that, and so was Double D. The former asks, "Okay, are you saying someone else takes the role of bass? Because I can do that if you want. However, this means it's more on Double D."

"Yes! Perfect! You know the bass notes or whatever?"

"Kinda." Chris said. "At my home, we have a bass, and I play around with the bass at times. Guitar too, but not so much."

Double D then says to everyone, "Are you sure this sudden change won't impact the performance Eddy? After all, changes do occur, but the issue arises when it's last-minute."

"To be fair," Chris responded. "We have all of today to practice still, so it's not a total last minute decision, but we should've done this yesterday preferably."

Eddy understood the things the lads said, before stating, "I gotcha guys. I'll make sure to take advantage of this freedom I got now that I'm not on the bass. I just wanna... get the crowd into it. After all, you gotta have presence on stage, right?"

"Yeah man, I get what you're saying, even if it's silly." Chris said, while chuckling a little bit. "Let's try this new setup! One, two, three!"

As it is with new things, well uh... it didn't go smooth at first. For one thing, Chris forgot that, he wasn't doing the solo, or any guitar parts, so occasionally he messed up by playing guitar notes, not the bass notes. After that attempt however, now that he caught himself, he progressively adjusted to playing the BASS notes, not the guitar ones. Double D? Well, because he had the solo with him to do, it wasn't easy as well... Chris usually played that part. After the first attempt, Chris provided Double D with the notes for the solo, which, he probably should've done before hand, but either way, it worked out, and Double D, while still running into roadblocks, was able to improve and improve. As for Eddy, he's having a much simpler time, as he won't admit it, but playing the bass while trying to sing was tiring on his head. Because, not only did he have to remember words, but also the notes for the instrument he was playing. Not exactly easy to do, unless you're Jimi Hendrix, James Hetfield, Dave Mustaine, Tom Araya, or a person who both plays an instrument and sings while doing so. Either way you spin the dice, or roll it should I say, Eddy's life felt easier, as now he can move the mic freely, without the restriction of playing something.

Speaking of which, last but 110% not least, Ed. Well, since the decision had no effect on him, since his role was still drumming, and he welcomed the change. Of course, surprisingly, he was still nailing down everything. Well, okay maybe not everything, but pretty close! And the other lads certainly never expected it, but it might be one of few times where Eds random... bursts of intelligence and/or skill come in handy. Regardless, it took the lads as a whole 5 or so attempts to readjust themselves to the new changes, and then, it seemed like they were getting it down well! Lucky!

At around 1 PM, the lads took a break, or should I say, everyone expect Chris? He stayed in the garage fooling around a little bit with the bass, just seeing where he was going a little off with the notes. Plus, he wanted to try his hand at some other songs. Like before, they ranged from faster, slow but heavy, ballad types, and other styles you could think of. After around 30 minutes or so, he took a break, as after all, he needed to reset, so to say.

In the living room, Double D brings up an important question that he has to Eddy. "Eddy? May I ask something?"

"What's up Double D?" Eddy responded.

"What exactly is the main aftermath you seek from this?" Double D stated. "There's many theories I personally have, but what's the actual answer?"

Eddy laughs at his friend before responding, "Double D! Isn't it obvious? We can get fame by doing this stuff! Also, you know these bands scored a lot?!"

"Ladies, I'm going to guess?" Double D said, slightly annoyed.

"Exactly!" Eddy said. "So, the way I see it is, Double D, you'll get to impress your girl. Chris? Same thing, and perhaps get something more. Ed? Same thing as Chris. Me? Boys, I'm gonna need some help handling it all."

Chris burst into laughter at what Eddy just spat out. "Dude! THE BANDS GOT THAT BECAUSE THEY BULIT IT THROUGH TIME! We are performing ONE time, and you expect to get ten or so years worth of reception? Don't be absurd dude. In fact, I actually just got another reason why this could be good."

"Oh yeah?" Eddy asked.

"Well, Double D?" Chris said. "The whole thing between you and Marie is currently the... well, let's just say it's the hot thing of the school is my bet. So, whether we perform either poorly or perfectly, it will take the attention away. Maybe not with the cul-de-sac kids, but don't worry. Eventually, everyone moves on to something new to talk about. This performance of ours will be that new thing."

Double D's mind just exploded. Chris was right! This was the PERFECT way to get rid of attention towards his relationship. That's when it hits him, this performance is basically a blessing in disguise! "You are actually correct Chris! I've never thought of the performance like that."

"Huh." Eddy said, realizing what Chris said too. "Well Double D, you can thank me later! Didn't actually plan that, to be honest with ya pal, but hey! If it works, that's what matters right?"

Chris then mentions, "You know, if we had picked a more absurd song, it would get EVEN MORE attention. But honestly? The song we picked I think will definitely be enough. Then again, there's some other songs I'm sure would be more absurd... but let's just say lads... there's limits. Especially in school, oh my gosh!"

"What other songs you have in mind dude! Tell us!" Eddy told Chris.

"Uh..." Chris said, a little stuck. "Let's just say in the vein of this story? They aren't exactly going to fit or be appropriate for me to talk about. But were we able to... oh man!"

Chris just laughs, as well, he knows the meaning of the songs he has in mind, but hey, he restricts himself. Eddy just says, "Alright, if you say so. Ed! Can you give us a single reason why you're doing this drumming stuff so well?"

Ed responded, "I clean my shoes Eddy!"

"I think he might seen someone do it before, and took inspiration." Double D hypothesized.

"That's reasonable, considering he won't give a friggin reason..." Chris said, wondering why Ed is just blurting random non sense as his answers. But then he remembers something he wanted to ask Eddy, so he stated,

"Hey Eddy, little question for ya actually."

"What's up?" Eddy said.

"Did you just drop the whole plan you had for Lee? Remember?" Chris asked the lad.

Eddy then sighs a bit before saying. "For now yeah. I mean, DID YOU SEE THAT STUFF THE OTHER DAY?! Like, even I was irritated by it. I can't say I'm really all for her right now, but maybe I'll reconsider if she changes up a bit."

"I think I can understand that. We can only hope that she changes her mind... because this might not be good..." Chris said, ambiguously.

"You know, should we get another vocalist to be backup?" Eddy brought up.

"Why?" Chris said. "Besides, who can we get really? No one here has listened to the song, expect maybe one of the girls, but I doubt they'll be available, and I also doubt it's a good idea to go near them at the moment..."

"What about Skylar?" Eddy asks.

"She's one hundred percent listened to it, but she doesn't live close enough for us to just go ask for a favor, ya know?" Chris explained to Eddy. "Why do you even want another backing vocalist? Yeah, the backing vocals in the live performances are done by girls, but I feel like as long as we deliver in a more laid back, normal way, we will be fine. No need to overwork ourselves."

Eddy then says, "Alright... I guess you're right. Man! Now I wish that incident didn't occur!"

"What, were you glad it occurred?" Chris jokingly said.

"No!" Eddy responded rapidly. "You know what I mean!"

"Relax man, I know." Chris said while laughing at Eddy's ridiculous burst of defense.

"Guys?" Ed asked.

"Yeah?" Chris said in response.

"Is the cafeteria big enough for us to perform?" A curious Ed said.

"Yep!" Chris responded, speaking for the lads. "Besides, at my old school, one time, someone had a band of like nine people, and the space management I think was longer than the actual performance, because good god it was awful. Funny thing is, when we had to do an assembly or something, it worked, but the fact that NINE people were performing... yeah, not easy."

Double D got curious to something. "Why were there nine people performing? Doesn't that seem a little bit on the excessive side? Not to be disrespectful."

"No worries." Chris began to explain. "I think they just wanted to do a duet type thing? As I recall, it was a couple thing mostly, one of the members was a teacher who guided them through the whole process. Then, they had a mix of instruments that they all played right? But they also had lyrics that were assigned for certain people to sing to each other. So, when it was their turn, they said their lines. You get me?"

"Makes more sense." Double D responded. "Did this performance end up working out?"

"Yes, basically. The only issue was the spacing, but after that, all was well. But we won't run into that issue, the cafeteria is more open than at my previous school." Chris explained.

"Perfect!" Eddy said. "Let's get back to practicing! I'm itching to practice my moves!"

Everyone shared a laugh, and then Double D said to Eddy, "Be careful to not let your shenanigans interfere with your performance Eddy! It's unlikely the audience will let it slide."

"Don't worry, when you're me, you got nothing to worry about." Eddy responded.

"Enough with the ego flexing you dork! Let's go." Chris said, laughing a little.

Does it really get easier than, they went back to practice? The more funny part was how, to them, because they kept replaying the song for a record of like 20 times at this point, they all seemingly nailed down what words were coming up, what notes were set to be played, and among other things. While yes, again, it's not like it's down to the last little detail, it was good enough where they felt like they had something that they could perform pretty well, in front of their school no less. Then again, it's not like they are playing to people in the 10,000 to 100,000 range. That would be... something else, but then again, if you got 50 schools to come together and form an audience... it probably would BARELY scratch 5,000 people.

Ridiculous estimates aside, the lads all agreed at around 4 PM, they have essentially gotten this song down good enough! Do they expect perfection? Of course not! But they feel as though that they can manage themselves on stage, and bam! Performance is delivered! If there's a lesson to be learned folks, is that practice ALWAYS makes you better at something. Whatever that something might be!

Anyways, the lads all concluded that... well, they had their fill of practice for today, and so, they all split apart, saying their cheerios for the day at around 6:30 PM. They all went to their homes, expect Eddy, who was already home.

All four boys are thinking differently though. Let's see what's up!

(_Chris's POV)_

_It feels like entering a party where you're a stranger, yet you have experience with the stuff. I don't even know man... Hahahaha! This is honestly so absurd, I can't even believe myself right now! I mean hey, I'm sure I'll have fun, after all... that's the goal of this no? I can only pray the other lads feel the same way. Either way, can only hope this doesn't come back to bite me. But I wouldn't worry. _

_(Eddy's POV)_

_Oh man! I got this in the bag! I'm surprised the other agreed, but that's what friends are for right? Help each other? Work together? I can just see it now, Eddy McGee, world renowned singer and with style! This will help the others too, so it's even more of a great thing! Scams have failed in the past, but this time? No way this can fail. I swear on my grave, this will work! Hopefully it becomes the new hot topic too, so Double D can relax about his girl. Guy is kinda lucky, but I'm gonna make him jealous! _

_(Double D's POV)_

_Well, all seems to be in clear order. I can only hope that Chris's statement of this performance detracting attention from me and Marie. The question is, how long will this last? I certainly would prefer not having to do another performance, as it would start taking its toll eventually. Even then, Eddy seems to have his "charms" ready for the ladies. Why can't he just resort to being more relaxed, calm and collected, instead of being ridiculously direct? Whatever works in his favor I suppose. I should rest in order to be in the mood for the performance. _

_(Ed's POV)_

_How long can my toes go? Oh oh! I should get my buttered toast for the next monster movie marathon!_

Wow, wasn't Ed's little though so inspirational? I truly felt it, my goodness... WOW. 


	37. Chapter 37: Bring Tha Noize

Chapter 37: Bring Tha Noize

Well, I guess it's now time to put the ACTUAL thing into action, eh? Well, not exactly YET. Why? Well, later in the day, Chris actually called the lads around 8 PM, because he had to tell the lads to wear attire that fits the theme of the song. So, it could be darker themed clothes, leather type stuff, etc, you get the idea. Ed's phone wasn't working, for some strange reason, and Chris mentioned that to Double D, so the latter went to Ed's house and explained the whole deal to him, and he agreed. And so, they are basically trying to get into that style, as their normal attire... isn't exactly gonna be fitting with what they are trying to perform. Well, minus Chris possibly, but he's going to a just himself a bit more.

The next day... or morning... 

Well, everyone's in different directions eh? Because Eddy for one thing, was in charge of bringing the stringed instruments, while Ed was in charge of carrying the drums. Then again, the latter is literally going to be the easiest thing in the world, because Ed can lift literal houses. Enough said. Hahaha! Anyways, smoothly proceeding onwards, when they all met up, the attire everyone had, generally speaking, was similar. Black jeans, grey or black shirt (if you were Chris, a band shirt), a jacket or vest covering the shirt, and vice versa.

"Well, we look fit for this. I hope." Chris said.

Eddy then said to him, "Let's hope your idea for clothing gets us some attention! We need to get everyone ready for our big moment!"

"Calm down cowboy," Chris said while chuckling. "We will get it sooner or later, right now, let's focus on getting to school first, yeah?"

And to school, they go! Chris actually offered to carry the guitar for Eddy, since he was struggling slightly with the instruments, because keep in mind, they need the plug ins for the guitars and everything to actually make sounds, or else... don't exactly expect the song to sound like the record at all. Either way, they all enter the school building, and to say that everyone paid attention to their attire, is a contender for understatement of the century. In fact, when they got to their lockers to check some stuff, Chris said, "My goodness... feels like we are wanted to something..."

"Are you kidding?!" Eddy said, excited about this. "We are getting our due my friends! Just wait until the actual performance, THEN it'll get amazing!"

"Eddy, might I suggest toning down your ambitions?" Double D said. "We still have no idea as to if everyone will love this performance, or even be open to the song we are going to play. Also, Ed? Where do you plan to store the drums? There's not enough space available in your locker to store it."

"Oh! I know! In the cafeteria! One moment please!" Ed said.

"That was quick." Eddy said, before turning to Double D, "Also, come on! We have it all under control!"

"I suppose so..." Double D said, slightly doubtful of all the "advantages" they have. Speaking of which...

"Hey Double D!" Marie said, before she noticed how he was... quite different looking than usual. She actually liked it. Double D responded to to her greeting, saying, "Greetings Marie! How are you?"

"Good. You're looking handsome mister. Let me guess, the performance?" Marie asked.

Double D blushes a little, before saying, "Yes. Eddy believe we, 'have it in the bag', as he would word it. Although, I feel as though he isn't thinking about the consequences, as he has this strange sensation of assurance that we won't have any problems."

"Look on the bright side," Chris said, joining on the conversation. "We ain't playing something more complex. This isn't easy per se, but it's easier. If that makes sense."

"Oh yeah, are you ready to impress her?" Marie said, poking fun at Chris.

"What?" Chris said confused.

"You know, Sk-"

"I am back guys!" Ed said to this lads, cutting Marie off.

"Hey Ed." Chris said. "Did you get the drums to the stage?"

"Yep! All is static!" Ed, who meant to say ecstatic... said.

May and Lee arrive to where the group of 5 peeps were, and the former notices Ed's attire. And she is... very much amazed. "Ed! You look amazing!"

"Aww... thanks?" Ed said, not used at all to hearing compliments about his appearance. Then again... he literally NEVER changes out of his normal wear, if once in a year. Maybe.

Eddy hasn't exactly gotten any compliment yet, but then again... in his mind, he won't have to wait long. Anyways, the bell rings and, you know the rules, and so do I!

"Let's go guys. Double D? We will see you and the rest of y'all later at break." Chris said.

And so, the two groups dispersed, and onto class! Although, Chris has a surprise in store. And Eddy does aswell. What exactly is this surprise? Well, when the two of them entered class, literally everyone in the room took notice, and even Mr. Muta said, "Well... we got a new look now, didn't we fellows?"

"That we did." Chris responded. "It's... for a purpose later today. You'll see it soon."

Muta laughs at Chris, before he and Eddy went and took their seats. Chris noticed Skylar was already there, and she says to him, "So... what's with the look?"

"Want the long or short version of the story?" Chris said, while taking his seat.

"Short." Skylar responded.

"Well..." Chris began to speak. "When you left to go back home the other day, Eddy told me that he got an idea to... basically perform a song in front of the whole school. Where he got this from? Apparently listening to a Motley Crue song. Speaking of Motley Crue... we are actually performing their song, 'Girls, Girls, Girls' . I know, hard to believe, but again, all Eddy's idea."

Skylar laughed out loud, before saying, "Wait.. you're actually performing? Oh my goodness!"

"Yeah. Keep it down okay? Let's try to not spoil it. Even then, the main purpose of this is to direct the attention away from Double D and Marie. But I can't say I know what type of attention we are going to get. Oh will it ever vary..." Chris stated.

"That sounds ominous." Skylar responded. "Well, I wish you and the others luck. It's just hard to believe. Barely a week or so into the school year too!"

"I know. I'm more just hoping none of us do something embarrassing, or something goes wrong, because... well, actually... nevermind. Even if we mess up or do well, we get the attention, and that's the main objective per se."

"Talking about our performance?" Eddy said to the two peeps.

"Yep." Chris spoke. "Just telling her the whole deal. That is all."

Skylar than brings up an important question to Eddy. "Couldn't you have picked a more... I don't know, un-suggestive or whatever song?"

"What are you talking about?" Eddy asked.

"You picked the song that you and the boys are performing, right?"

Eddy now realizes what she was talking about. "Oh yeah... well, come on! It'll get us all the attention, and the song is just what the crowd is gonna love?"

Skylar laughs before telling Eddy, "You better hope you're right, because once the people start realizing the song you're playing... I'll be amazed if the school doesn't flat out suspend you four."

"There's not a single word that's even bad in it, what's the problem?" Eddy responded.

"Eddy... uh... remember what I told Ed?" Chris told Eddy, reminding the latter of the meaning of the song.

"Oh... snap!" Eddy said, a little stuck. "Eh, whatever, we won't get in that much trouble for THAT song. Chris, didn't you say that there were more... I guess worse songs we could've done?"

Chris rolls his eyes before saying, "Yes, but you're trying to act like that offsets the possible issues with the one we are playing. Even then, I hope you're right."

Skylar raised an eyebrow as to the "other songs", they were considering. "What other songs were you considering guys?"

"Well... maybe we could've done a Slipknot, Slayer or Megadeth, but all three would've been beyond complicated for various reasons." Chris stated.

"You idiot!" Skylar said while laughing. "How would you four play... literally anything from those three bands?"

"Exactly." Chris responded.

Why don't we go check on the other group?

In Spanish, well... it seems as though there's a conversation between Double D and Marie. They have been (secretly, at the back of the class, with Ed and May taking the table in front, and Lee sitting in form of them) talking about that night, and Double D has been updating Marie on the whole "performance" going on today. Similar to Skylar, thought slightly different, Marie is pretty astounded by what she is being told, finding it pretty funny.

"So, you think that you are ready sweetheart?" Marie said with a grin.

"As much as we will ever be Marie. Although, I can't guarantee we will give a performance that is on the flawless spectrum of things." Double D said, a little worried.

"Relax!" Marie said. "You'll do fine, and don't try to go for perfection all through it."

Double D simply responded by smiling a bit at Marie, and sharing a hug between the two. Ed and May were having a similar conversation in front of them.

"Ed, are you really about to perform a song?"

"Yup! With my pals! We are all ready!" Ed said, cheerfully.

"Awesome!" May said, also cheerfully. "I hope it goes well for you all!"

May also mentions, once more, "Also... Ed?"

"Yes?" Ed responded.

"I know I said this before, but you really look great." May said with a smile. Ed slightly blushed at this, as he, once again, is not used at all to hearing compliments for his looks. Plus, May sounded very sincere, which isn't very common either.

Ahh... I love get togethers. Hahaha!


	38. Chapter 38: The Dirt

Chapter 38: The Dirt

When it comes down to the whole idea the lads had, at break, they all went into the cafeteria, because, while yes, they don't exactly have time to practice, that's beyond obvious. No, what they are doing is instead, making sure the sounds for everything are going to be in order in time for the performance. Surprisingly, when they tried to enter the cafeteria, it was unlocked, which is surprising, considering it isn't usually unlocked at break, ever so rarely occurring. Well... some people are lucky today, aren't they? Ha!

Anyways, the whole sound check mainly came down to Chris and Double D, as they were the ones who would be most reliable, at least when it comes down to this sound checking stuff. Ed and Eddy would commonly just... test the instruments to ensure they were fine. I mean, neither of them were experienced with how to adjust sound (minus the typical volume adjustment stuff), so they didn't have much in variety.

However, break has limited time as we, including you, dear reader, know. So... back to class, specifically Science, the lads had to go! And, wow! What a total surprise, they attract attention!

Mr. Araya, upon seeing the four lads, laughs a little before saying, "You guys are looking pretty killer. Something special planned today?"

"You could say that..." Eddy said. "...just you wait my friend! No spoilers!"

Mr. Araya laughs out loud, before telling them. "I can't wait then. Have a seat will ya? You guys are crazy. In a good way of course."

While they go to their seats, Eddy gets poked on his shoulder by a girl that he has never met before, and she... gives him her number, saying "Call Me" with a heart on it. Eddy is feeling thrilled, as he basically got a number by doing... basically nothing. Chris, who already took his seat next to Skylar (at the back of class), saw that and chuckled to himself.

"Eddy," Chris whispered. "I'm guessing that's why you wanted to do this?"

Eddy snickered before nodding his head to say yes. Chris responded by saying, "I hope you're prepared to get that, times a freakin thousand."

Eddy then takes a seat next to Ed, who is front of Chris and Skylar, but behind Marie and Double D, who are behind May and Lee. It seems everyone has picked their specific partner for the class today.

However, little does anyone know that Lee witnessed that, and her anger is scary... to say the uh... least. Plus, the fact that Eddy basically was CELEBRATING that was not helping her case... again, to say the least. But she remained silent, as if she caused another scene, the principal is unlikely to be "generous", especially after the other day's... large event, so to say. Oh, no matter where you dwell, here we are again huh? Jeebus...

Anyways, back to the lads, Marie actually joined in on the conversation, saying, "I'm surprised you got something, since you have the least successful guy I've seen."

Eddy raised an eyebrow at Marie's statement. "Whatcha trying to say?!"

"You have never been successful with this, I guess picking up girls thing?" Marie told Eddy, quite bluntly. "Like, okay, Double D, you're all good sweetie. Ed is alright. Chris, I don't know. But you Eddy? You have always failed, and it's just hilarious!"

Eddy got annoyed at her statement. He isn't denying that, as that would only amplify Marie's point, but he says, as a counter, "Oh, you're gonna eat your words soon! Just you wait!"

Marie only laughed as a response back to him. Eddy just decided to ignore her, as he was sure that this performance was going to shoot that statement as false, from here on out. Although, just a... tip of advice... he might not wanna "bank", so much confidence in that, because something goes wrong... oh it goes in another direction easy.

However, there is another person taking to Eddy about what just happened. And it is none other than Double D! "Eddy, don't you think this whole idea of getting an over excessive amount of girl's number is a bit dishonest? Let's face reality for a minute, are you seriously planning on calling every number you receive? That's just being, as I said, dishonest."

"Relax Double D!" Eddy responded to his hat wearing friend. "I won't do all of them, I'll get burnt out and honestly... I'm just trying to narrow it down, you get me? Besides, if I did all, you guys would be stuck!"

Double D only rolled his eyes, at yet another display of Eddy's overconfidence. "Sure Eddy... because you're the only one doing this performance, aren't ya?"

"Oh calm down Einstein, you know I meant." Eddy said, while chuckling.

Class progressed normally, with the occasional question coming up for the performance given to either of the four lads. Of course, they all gave little teasers as to what to expect, but neither of them directly said what was exactly going to happen, as then... where's the surprise element in that? Either way though, around the halfway mark of class, Mr. Araya gave the class a 5 minute break, for listening and being well focused (for the most part) on today's work. During this time, Eddy turns to his friends and says, "So, we're getting closer and closer my friends! We all ready?"

"Yep. Let's just hope we aren't damning ourselves after it though." Chris stated.

"We are all set as much as we possibly can Eddy. But I must ask you, are we going to be announcing the performance in front of everyone?" Double D asked.

"Of course!" Eddy responded to Double D's question. "Why wouldn't we? We have to get the audience ready and prepared to get excited! We already checked the sound, and it's fine right?"

Chris says, "Basically. It's not perfect per se, but I think it'll be good enough. Then again, I doubt someone is gonna be grading is on our sound production, or whatever you wanna call it."

"Who's gonna hear us through the story guys?" Ed asked.

"What?" Chris said. "I'm pretty sure everyone in school will, you doofus."

Carrying onwards, the end of class seemingly came out of nowhere. Then again, I'm pretty sure literally no one was complaining about that. Would you? Anyways, once class was over, the lads RAN to the cafeteria as fast as they could, but little did they realize that Mr. Araya let everyone out 5 minutes early, secretly so that he could help the lads, if only a bit. Once they arrive, they are getting the final touches ready, because god forbid they have SOMETHING that just doesn't work, embarrassing all of the lads. Although, they are then joined by the girls, who followed behind them. Skylar is the first to speak, telling them, "So... you guys all ready?"

"Yep!" All four simultaneously responded.

"Nice. Chris? You got a minute?"

Chris responds, "Sure; let's just be quick okay?"

And so, Skylar and Chris are in private, and the former says, "Why are you doing this performance?"

"I told you silly, It's all Eddy's idea and he in-"

Skylar cuts him off by saying, "No. I want the truth."

Chris got confused. "Wait, what?"

"Is there something you are trying to do with this?" Skylar said, sounding a mix of serious and worried.

Chris at this point is utterly confused. He would simply say that it's all Eddy's stunt, but she doesn't fully believe that it seems. So, he decides to say, "Okay... well, the lads and I figured that we could direct attention from Marie and Double D over to this instead. Because... let's just say Double D doesn't want his relationship to be the thing everyone at school talks about. Plus, I get to perform a great song aswell, so it's perfect for a entertainment aspect."

"Is that all?" Skylar said.

Chris nods as to say yes, before he states. "Why are you worried all of the sudden? I don't understand...?"

"Because, I saw Eddy get a number from a girl, and then you went next to him and said like... wait until after the performance? And I was seriously raising an eyebrow at that." Skylar explained.

Chris simply laughed before responding, "Skylar, that wasn't serious at all. Eddy likes that stuff, for reasons I will never understand. Me? Not exactly. Too much for me personally. Anyways, relax okay? It's fine."

"I suppose so. Hey, good luck too." Skylar said.

The two share a quick hug, before they both return to the cafeteria, and Chris goes back to setting up. He notices also that the cafeteria is getting noticeably larger in terms of how many people are coming in. He has to act fast.

"We ready guys?" Chris asks.

"Almost." Eddy says. "You all set up man? Because I get a feeling you should announce this."

"Why me? You're the vocalist right? It's only logical that you are the one that announces the song." Chris responded.

"What? Oh yeah... right."

Chris then mentions, "Besides, dude... the vocalist is literally the person who talks with the audience during a show, announces the songs, and vice versa."

"Copy that. Get ready then."

Eddy gets the mic ready, and he is waiting for the lads to get into position before he announces what they are doing. It's too late to back out at this point, it's all or nothing now, because if they leave now, it's literally several upon several hours wasted. But he knows that this is the case, and he isn't backing down, and neither are any of the lads. It's now their big moment.

And Eddy turns on the mic and...


	39. Chapter 39: Welcome To The Jungle

Chapter 39: Welcome To The Jungle

"Ahem!" Eddy began to speak. "Everyone, may I have your attention please?"

Wow, quite immediately, they get everyone's attention in the cafeteria. Eddy then proceeds to say, "Hello there, we are here to provide you all with some quality entertainment! Now would you please give us four or so minutes to give you that entertainment?"

Not the best way to get the attention of the people, but with what they are doing... that's not exactly going to be an issue. Eddy then shouts out, "Three, Two, ONE!"

And then Double D, Ed and Chris start playing the opening of the song. Minus the motorcycle at the beginning, because... when has a drum, guitar or bass ever made a noise like that? Exactly. Anyways, the audience, immediately starts getting interested into what's being played, and it hasn't even been 30 or so seconds since they started. At around 35 seconds, Eddy begins his singing. He manages to say the first lines well, and following up to the "Girls, Girls, Girls" part, well... the audience's reaction is rather mixed already. Some are quite shocked, as some of the lyrics were actually... quite audible, so to say, and yeah. But, then there are the people who are actually cheering on for the lads.

Of course, it wouldn't be an event of this scale without teachers getting involved. The teachers who got involved are Mr. Muta, Ms. Sonya, and Mr. Araya. The two Misters are actually impressed, especially Mr. Araya, as he wasn't expecting this, and quite frankly, from 10th graders, it's a sight to behold. Sonya, while she appreciates the effort and dedication of the boys, she... well is slightly indifferent, so to say, to the song's lyrics, but nevertheless, she applauds them.

Speaking of the lads, the crew is now at the 1 minute and 30 second mark, and after another 15 seconds, Eddy goes into the bridge part of the song, where the line, "I'm such a good, good boy", comes into play. Eddy, while he was singing, he was doing expressions with his free hand, while also occasionally doing something like, skidding on the stage by doing that move where the person slides on their knees. Heck, he even did facial expressions here and there. While the audience was applauding and cheering on for him, Chris, who was witnessing literally everything, nearly couldn't believe two things. One, the fact that the audience is actually digging the song they are playing. But trust me, when it comes to something like this... that isn't a complaint. Plus, he noticed the teachers coming in, but they didn't even attempt to stop them, they actually joined in with the audience and watched them perform. Also, number two, he is having a hard time believing that Eddy _actually_ went ahead with his ideas of doing things on stage (other than singing) to get the attention of the audience. Although, when it came to the part where he said, "I just need a new toy", Chris couldn't help but say, in his head, "_Eddy... I can only imagine how you feel. But you're born for this dude... oh my goodness... haha!"_

In the audience, well, the cul-de-sac kids are basically sharing the same mindset of shocked, stunned, and surprised. Kevin is most of all shocked that Eddy, of all people, had the guts to do what he is doing. The funny thing is, they came in at the one minute mark of the song, missing the intro and stuff by Eddy, but nevertheless, they are least going to witness the ridiculousness, and there's still plenty more to come!

Anyways, the lads get to the middle part of the whole song, and Eddy is surprisingly still "having his chops", let's say. His confidence was something quite unrivaled, and nothing demonstrates this more than what he proceeds to do. He invites a girl from the audience to dance with him, so to say, and the audience started to lose their minds. He was even singing while doing it too! Granted he didn't much to sing, as the second half of the song is where the solo, and instruments kickstart themselves. Eddy keeps the dance going still with the girl, and to say that the lads are shocked... understatement of the century I say! In fact, some more people get up on stage and start giving their moves and going near the lads, which Eddy didn't expect to happen, but hey! Gives it more of an energetic vibe!

Meanwhile, all of the girls are... well, they are all just mixed beyond mixed. May is happy for her crush, and she is beyond stunned at the drumming that Ed is showing off on stage. She never even half expected him, of all people, to be the drummer for this, but she isn't complaining. Marie is beyond speechless, as yes, she had no doubt her boyfriend had talent, but to THIS extent? Unexpected, but she is currently admiring him playing. Lee? Uh... she isn't even here. She had actually left once Eddy did the stunt of bringing a girl onstage to dance with him. I think you know why... yeah. Lastly, Skylar is cheering on for all four lads, with maybe a slight bias for Chris, but even then, she tries to be equal with cheering for the lads. And when Eddy did the stunt, she laughed quite a bit, because she never could've imagined someone actually doing that. Skylar goes over to Marie and says, "I think he's got you in a trap."

"Oh shut up!" Marie said playfully. "Let's just wait to see after this. Then he'll be able to talk."

Skylar punches Marie in the arm lightly before saying, "You idiot, he's clearly gonna brag about this afterwards, what do you think he's gonna do?"

Speaking of Eddy, after Double D finished the solo, the former finished this dance and so, whoever the girl was, went back to the crowd, before the lads get to the last 45 seconds or so. It's basically a bit more guitar, bass and drums, and Eddy proceeds to say. "Girls, Girls, Girls", one last time, just like in the song, and Double D tops the whole thing off by playing a tiny bit of guitar... and that's the end of the song.

The audience then cheers VERY loudly for the lads, and all four of them couldn't believe that, they actually just pulled it off. Yes, there were some mistakes, but even then, they were very much nearly unrecognizable to the audience, so they were gonna be fine. The people who went onstage went back to the crowd, and Eddy decided to speak once more. "Thank you, and thank you! You all are incredible! Before we leave off, let me give my personal thanks to the people who made this possible!"

Eddy walks to Double D, who is kinda nervous, before the former says, "Double D, our guitar guy, for playing all the sweet notes and making it loud! Cheers for him please!"

And so, the audience... well cheers for Double D. He actually decides to speak for himself, saying. "Thank you everyone for allowing us to perform. It has been quite the experience and pleasure."

Eddy moves on to Ed, saying, "Ed! The lump, the one and only! He's got the rhythms down for the song, and he's the one to credit for playing today! Cheers for him aswell?"

Cheers for Ed, the audience does. Ed simply put on a derpy, yet flashy smile towards the crowd, while waving his hand as to say thank you to them. And lastly, Eddy goes over to Chris, speaking for him stating, "And lastly, Chris! Cheers to you for putting the fourth piece of the puzzle. The rumble, the extra layer, if that's a thing, but you laid your best work bud! Everyone!"

And once more, everyone cheers, and Chris says, through the mic, "Thanks lads! It's all in the name of rock and roll!"

Catch that reference. Anyways, Eddy goes back to his position, and says to the audience, "Well everyone, thank you for the chance to play, and catch ya later next time!"

And so, they cheer for the last time, and the lads get together and discuss what happened.

"Eddy, that stunt with that lady was quite the move." Double D said. "Unexpected, but I suppose it does fit the overall theme of the song."

Eddy laughs before saying, "I'm surprised she played along. She was hot too! Tell you guys the truth, I wasn't exactly planning that, it just came outta nowhere, but that was awesome!"

"Oh sure you weren't planning that." Chris responded, jokingly.

One of the teachers, Sonya, came up to the lads and said, "Unexpected performance you four put up. That was actually quite impressive. But you guys should be careful because... I know what the song was actually talking about."

"Oh... well..." Double D spoke for the lads, but Sonya proceeded to say...

"It's fine okay? I'll keep it on the low, as some say, but try to make sure the lyrics don't exactly catch the attention too much."

Double D responded, "We very much appreciate that, Ms. Sonya."

"It's alright though, remember that." Sonya stated. "Anyways, great job you four. Hope you guys put in that effort for the work! Haha!"

"We will... try." Chris ambiguously responded. "But we will see you later!"

The next person, or rather group of people that come up is Mr. Araya and Mr. Muta. The latter speaks first, stating, "My goodness! That was exhilarating!"

"You guys put on quite a show." Mr. Araya stated.

"Thanks!" Eddy said. "We all got our set of skills, and charisma!"

Both of the teachers laughed at their student's ridiculousness, as it was all in fun, and besides, they know it's all FOR FUN! Anyways, Muta states, "Well, I hope you gentlemen have a wonderful day, I gotta go get prepared for class."

"See ya!" All four lads say to Mr. Muta.

Araya stays in order to tell the lads, "Will you four be doing anymore performances? I would be in favor for that."

The four lads glance at each other, before Double D spoke, "Well, Mr. Araya, it would depend on the song we would be performing, as it generally cannot exceed past five minutes at best, and it also has to be appropriate enough for the whole school, free of profanity and such. So, we will have to discuss it, OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL, may I add."

Mr. Araya laughs before saying, "Whenever you guys decide to do it, good luck, I'll be there in favor. Bye for now."

And so, the lads begin putting the instruments into their storage, first they start by putting the stringed instruments into their respective storage thingys. However, the drums?

"How are we supposed to store the drums in Ed's locker?" Eddy stated.

"We don't Eddy. We have to leave it here in the cafeteria, as we cannot carry it around to our classes, causing a massive distraction among them." Double D told him.

"Good point." Chris said. "Hey Ed? At the end of the day, we will come back here and get this."

"Roger roger!" Ed happily responded.

However, Eddy turns around to see a girl with a little slip. "Wait... you are the girl who danced with me?!"

"Yeah." She said. "Listen, that was actually pretty fun, and... here's a little thanks. Catch ya later. Maybe."

Eddy then gets another thank you. Which is a full on kiss on the lips. After a couple of seconds, Eddy just stood there, stunned, shocked, paralyzed, and other similar terms! Before, he then open the slip, which has the girl's number, and with a signature saying the girl's name, Violet.

"Hey, uh, Eddy? You alive man?" Chris said, laughing a bit.

"Guys! Do you realize what this means!? We can just do this and score easily!!!" Eddy said, in a burst of excitement. My goodness, wow.

"Well, someone's happy."

Marie, who was also accompanied by Skylar and May, come up to the lads. Eddy then realized that he can officially, "have the high ground", on Marie now. "So, who's unsuccessful now?! Ha!"

Marie groans in annoyance, as she knew this was gonna happen, plus, she even saw what occurred just now. "Okay okay! You win okay? Geez, shorty needs his approval."

May goes over to Ed and says, "Ed! You did amazing!"

"Aww, thanks." Ed responded, slightly shy.

May decides to give Ed a hug, and, at first Ed is slightly surprised by this, but he decides to give it back, even if she is shorter than him. Either way, Ed gives her a hug back. After around 15 or so seconds, they both break it off, but they do smile at each other, happy with one another.

Back to Marie and her current situation, she tells Eddy. "But what's your plan then? You can't just have them all you know? As far as I know, you have two numbers now, but you gotta pick one!"

"As much as this may seem biased Eddy, Marie does a have point." Double D, jumping in, stated. "If you were to ask me, the girl who you danced with has seemingly taken a liking or something of the sort, so it would be best to go with her."

Eddy has to admit, Double D has a perfect point. "I think you're right. Alright, after school, boys! We are securing a lady!"

"You sound so egotistical, my goodness." Chris commented.

Skylar then jumps in, "Tell me about it. You did great by the way Chris. Seems like you followed the notes quite well."

"Not one hundred percent obviously, but... thanks? It wasn't the best, but it worked." Chris tells her.

"You did your best okay? Don't discredit yourself." Skylar said with a small grin. Chris simply laughs a little back to her.

However, Eddy then says, "So, what's next guys?"

"We still have some time to relax, like maybe 40 minutes? Maybe slightly less, but still good enough." Chris told Eddy.

"Sweet!" Eddy responded to Chris. "Let's go store the instruments at our lockers."

"Alright, Double D, let's go store them. We will be back in a minute or two."

And so, 3 of the 4 lads go to their lockers, and they encounter some surprises. What does this mean? Well... their lockers are filled with papers, including Eds. Oh man, this is REALLY difficult to guess why. Not. Anyways, the lads start going through them, and it's pretty comical, at least to Chris.

"Wow... the so called fame takes off doesn't it?" Chris says, while chuckling.

Double D said, "While I do appreciate the admiration of our fellow female classmates, I will have to decline the offers that are being presented."

"That's my boy. Staying committed, I like that!" Chris said, giving Double D some points.

Eddy goes through his locker, and he is actually feeling slightly surprised, as, yes, he knew he would attract quite a lot of attention, but THIS much? Nope. "Well, if I need anymore chances, I'll keep these in backup."

"Again, goodness me, that sounds cocky!" Chris said, laughing.

Double D, ignoring what Eddy said, asked Chris, "What is your plan with these notes?"

"I'm very unlikely to bother with them honestly. My mind is set on only one persona. Not ten, let's not be absurd right now." Chris responded. "Even then, this is just ridiculous for me anyways."

"Who's the lady?" Eddy said jokingly.

"Shut up man! You know already! Geez..." Chris said, slightly annoyed, but he is, deep down, kinda amused at Eddy's little humor.

"Skylar huh? Can't blame ya. Besides, I knew from the beginning that you two had something!" Eddy said while laughing a little, which made Chris roll his eyes at Eddy's statement.

Eddy then tells the crew, "Well, we should get back to the others. We already put our things in our lockers, so we should be fine. Let's go!"

And so, our group of 3 reunite with our other group of 3. The group of, now 6, talk about mostly the performance, and of Eddy's general things that he would do in order to get the audience more into the song. As a whole, the main idea of Eddy's little stunts worked, and it even provided everyone some humor here and there. Speaking of "everyone", occasionally, someone would come up to our lads and tell them they did a great job, that they would like another performance, and many other things. It seems that our boys got some fans. Some.

Everything went better than expected! Awesome!

_Author's note: This Chapter was a blast to write honestly. Probably my favorite chapter of the bunch. I mean, hey! That could change, but for now, this one takes the cake! I hope everyone enjoyed this one! If things turn out the way I want them to, perhaps I can do another one like this, but regardless, this was awesome to write! Hahaha!_


	40. Chapter 40: Before I Forget

Chapter 40: Before I Forget

At the table of the crew, they are just now basically spending their time consuming some lunch. Although... something isn't quite correct. Marie realizes that Lee is missing, and she is 110% certain as to why that is the case. But before she can go looking for him, she has to talk to Double D first. Lucky for her, she had already finished her lunch, and so did Double D for that matter.

"Hey." Marie whispered in his ear.

Double D turns to her and says, "Yes Marie?"

"We need to talk about something. In private." Marie explains in a low voice so that the others don't hear them.

"Okay." Double D told her before saying, "One second gentlemen, I must handle some private business."

All the lads simply responded with a variation of "Alright then."

And so, Double D and Marie go to an area where they take a seat or lay down near a tree. Hmm... where have I seen this before? Anyways, putting aside any deja vu, they begin to speak with one another.

"So Marie, what is the occasion for this?" A curious Double D asked Marie.

Marie begins to explain, saying, "I'm not looking forward to seeing Lee's reaction to the performance."

Double D didn't realize why until it hit him: Eddy's stunt.

"I presume you are referring to the stunt that Eddy did? Marie, while Eddy has been known to... charm the ladies, as he would put it, it is very much not set in stone as to if Eddy will take the lady he got the number of into a relationship." Double D told Marie. "Besides, something tells me Eddy isn't going to have it easy just because of the performance."

"What do you mean?" Marie asked.

Double D looks at her and says, "Please keep this as a secret from him, but Eddy has me slightly worried with his overconfident attitude about the performance. From what I've seen, he believes that everything will be easy from now. While I do understand why he would think this, it isn't a mindset that bodes well."

"You're telling me." Marie responded. "If he can make it work, I'll be surprised, but I'll root for him. I guess. But Lee is very much unlikely to."

Double D then says, "Marie, as much as it may seem like Lee has a say in the matter, she does not. It is mainly a thing born of jealousy."

"You don't get it!" Marie fired back, surprising Double D. "She and him are basically equals, wouldn't you say? Plus, she is not gonna let this go easy at all. What then when that occurs?"

Double D only thought about Marie said. I mean, it IS true, Lee and Eddy are basically equals in their respective crews. Loud, brash, blunt, direct, don't think a lot, need I go on? Either way you roll the dice lad, Double D said this, "I suppose you have a point Marie. Although, Eddy did have some plans for Lee originally, but because of the incident that occurred a few days ago, he decided to cancel them."

"What were the plans?" Marie asked.

"As far as they were planned, Eddy had me make a certain potion, which was supposed to make him more relaxed. We tested it on Chris, and he seemed to have no major effects. The only thing I might've noticed was that he was seemingly less interested in certain activities. I say that, as, the day that we tested the potion one hundred percent was... unfortunately the day of the large incident. The main takeaway is that, he decided to go away with Skylar, and I'm presuming that it's due to the potion. The plan never advanced further, as we, or should I say Eddy, cancelled everything, and changed our ideas into the performance." Double D explained to her.

Marie was actually surprised.to hear this, as all she has witnessed, from the start, is the two of them (Eddy and Lee) being at literal opposites end of the table on what seems to be everything in this universe. Okay, maybe not literally, but you get the idea. Regardless, Marie then says to Double D, "Wow. Now what's his plan?"

"Not too sure sadly." Double D stated. "But, something tells me that Eddy is unlikely to pay her any attention. And Lee will share the same mindset."

Marie laughed at what Double D said. "Double D, I don't think she'll let this go without issues."

"And as I've mentioned before, it's not in her hands to decide for Eddy." Double D reminded her.

Marie was getting slightly frustrated, because she felt like Double D was failing to understand the point. At that point, she decided to drop the topic, as to avoid any possible conflict with her boyfriend. "I suppose you're correct Double D. I hope you are."

"I'm sure it will only be an issue of her accepting this as it is." Double D calmly stated.

Marie then asks him, "Oh yeah, anymore performances planned?"

Double D laughs before he says. "No. Not for right now Marie. We have to practice another song before we even grasp the idea of performing once more. I won't turn that opportunity down of course, experience counts. Although, I will request of the fellows that we give ourselves more time, because two days or so is a rather ineffective period of time. I'm extremely surprised that we even did our performance well enough."

"Come on!" Marie states. "You did really well! And so did the rest of your friends too. I'm sure everyone would agree. Plus, did you see all the fans you got?"

Double D chuckles at the word "fans". "I suppose so, but everything has room for improvement."

Marie then gets an idea for something. So. she tells him. "I think you're due for something."

"What might that be Marie? Is some-"

Is it really THAT hard to guess that, Marie kissed Double D on the lips? Not only that, she gets directly on top of him, which catches Double D off guard. He is thanking everything is literally no one is nearby to see them doing... that. Not to worry though, it didn't escalate beyond some "normal" making out however, and even then, it's unlikely that SCHOOL of all places is the best environment to do that stuff. But, what can ya do? Anyways, after like 10 minutes or so, our two lovebirds decided to go back to the crew, who, surprisingly enough, everyone was still there. Once they both sit down, Marie gets asked by Skylar...

"So, where were you guys?"

"We were just talking about some... things." Marie responded.

Skylar gets curious, and says, "Like what? If you wanna share."

"Not here. And, okay... if I'm to tell you, you better kept your mouth shut never tell anyone. Got that?" Marie whispered to Skylar, the latter of which was slightly surprised.

"Don't worry. I'll keep it a secret. I promise." Skylar responded.

As for the boys, Eddy is currently boasting (unsurprisingly) about the fact that he, basically has a date with that girl that he brought up to the stage to dance with. Chris responded to him, saying, "Relax you dimwit. Just because we did that doesn't mean she's gonna be all over you and want you to be with her."

"But come on! You can't tell me that was smooth!" Eddy exclaimed.

Chris laughed at that statement, before saying, "You can't be serious. That isn't smooth to me at all. But hey, I don't exactly know myself, but again, it just doesn't seem that way to me."

"You're just jealous that you aren't going to be able to get an opportunity like this!" Eddy fired back.

"Oh, really?" Chris said, feeling a little bit provoked. "Okay, let's make a bet then. Since you're so ridiculously overconfident in your ability to... I guess get this girl with you, here's a bet for ya. You must ask her to be with you. If she says yes, I owe you fifteen dollars. If she says no, you owe me fifteen."

Eddy laughs in a comically evil tone. "You asked for it. Deal!"

Chris and Eddy shake hands, officially making a bet secured. The entire table starts laughing at Eddy though, and he says, "What is so funny?"

"Eddy, oh my goodness... hey! Ed, Double D, Marie, May and Skylar, can I speak for you five?"

They all say yes, and Chris turns to Eddy, saying, "Eddy, they are laughing at you not because it's funny. situation. They're laughing, because it's ridiculous, how you think because you just casually have a girlfriend thanks to that performance."

"Honestly?" Skylar said, jumping in. "That's very unrealistic. She is going to want to know you Eddy. Not just get with you for the performances."

Double D then throws his two cents in, "She is right Eddy. Do not misinterpret what we are saying however, we all fully support you in succeeding with this, but you must not let yourself get over your head."

Well, isn't that a lot to take in? Haha! Eddy feels like a deer caught in headlights because, holy moly was this something to take in. Eddy responds to everyone, saying, "Alright, everybody calm down! I'll keep it cool, I promise. By the end of it, you'll eat your words."

"Sure... punk." Chris said in a sarcastic manner.

Marie throws her two cents in, saying, "I'll do another bet for ya. If you don't kiss her before she leaves, you owe me fifteen too! If you do kiss, I owe you. But, it only counts if she approves. No forcing it, got that?"

Eddy also accepts that bet, thinking he's gonna get a free 30 dollars. Oh, isn't this just the same old song, over and over. Does it ever change? That's the question we need to know. Anyways, moving along, the crew spent the rest of lunch generally having fun with one another, until, ding ding! Time for classes!

To summarize the next 2 classes for you, the lads that performed got many compliments and attention from everyone. And, surprise, they also got some numbers inbetween classes. Of course, all four were divided in terms of reactions. If you're Ed, you most likely thought you had more friends. If you're Double D, you took the numbers sure, but ultimately, you didn't want to take it much further than possible, because you are already dedicated to a certain blue-haired lady. If you're Eddy, your ego got fed more and more. If you're Chris, you take them, sure, but you didn't plan to do anything as, you already have your mind set to a certain someone.

Regardless, it's now time for everyone to go home sweet home! In-between the end of class and walking out the door, Eddy found Violet, and they both settled on 4:30 PM as the date time tonight. So, everything seems to be quite well, right?

"Don't tell me Lee skipped school..." Marie said, slightly concerned, because Lee was in literally none of the last two classes.

"Perhaps she has gone home? Because it's unlikely she's gone anywhere else." Double D told Marie.

Marie nods her head to say yes, and she and Double D share a hug and a kiss. Eddy then tells his other two lads, "Well, we got some work to do, right?"

Ed, carrying the drums with very little effort, says, "Roger that Eddy!"

Chris was about to respond to Eddy, until he notices Skylar, somewhat distant. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. I gotta go. Bye." Skylar responded, ever so briefly.

"_This is... concerning... what could possibly be making her act this way..." _Chris, in deep thought, said to himself.

Meanwhile, May tells Ed. "Are you sure you can carry that Ed?"

Ed, in a silly tone, says, "Ed can carry it, miss May. No worries are required."

May laughs at Ed's random word usage, and tells him, "Well, I gotta go, take care Ed!"

"You too!" Ed yells out.

And so, the two groups split up to go to their homes. Everyone is in different thoughts currently. Eddy, speaking for everyone, says, "So? Whatcha guys think? We did good right?"

"While yes, our performance does the work quite well if I say so myself, we have a set of issues to deal with." Double D responded. "For example, it seems you have a date with this, 'Violet', lady. If so, shouldn't we logically get you prepared and all set up?"

Eddy tells Double D, "I guess."

Eddy then turns to Chris and asks him, "Your input."

Chris doesn't respond, as he is still stuck in his thoughts, and he hasn't even listened to anything the lads have been saying. Eddy then snaps his finger in front of him, saying, "Hey! You there man?"

"What?" Chris said, snapped back to reality. "I'm just thinking about something right now. Sorry. My bad."

"It's cool. But I'm gonna ask for some help with this date. Can you help me with this?" Eddy asked.

"Well..." Chris said, slightly unsure. "Alright, sure. But we can't do everything! Keep this in mind!"

Eddy notices that Chris is noticeably more... maybe a little bit more upfront and aggressive than he usually is. Perhaps once the date is over, he'll talk to him and see what's up, because to Eddy, something is clearly bothering Chris, and he wants to help. But, one thing at a time my friends, one thing at a time.

This feels more bittersweet. Ew. 


	41. Chapter 41: No Class

Chapter 41: No Class

So, how exactly are the lads going to help Eddy with this date? Well, for one thing, they all took different roles. Since Chris did a pretty good job with the decor last time, he was assigned to that, and so, the other two lads, Double D and Ed, took to helping Eddy with his dressing. Although, Eddy has a specific thing he wanted to wear...

"Come on!" Eddy told the two peeps. "What's wrong with this?"

For an idea of what Eddy's idea is... it's basically a 70s type style, where he has a red shirt with small white squares around it, and for pants, he wears white. Double D couldn't resist his laughter, and... laugh he does. Whoops!

"Eddy, oh I am sure she will be swept off her feet as you would put it." Double D remarked, very sarcastically.

Ed then says, "Eddy reminds me of the shows my dad watches!"

"Oh, so what do you guys have in mind?" Eddy said, slightly offended.

Double D then mentions, "Eddy, you don't need to put on a show of appearance. As Skylar mentioned, she will want to get to know your personality and general aura around her. That's what we must make sure of."

"If my looks doesn't matter, then what are we doing here?" Eddy stated. "Let's go meet up with Chris downstairs!"

"Eddy, wait!" Double D yelled out, but it was of little use.

Double D only sighed, saying, "I'm afraid of what hell have to endure during the date. Aren't you Ed?"

"Double D, my good pal, when a man such as Eddy goes in with a mindset, that is all bent on their ego being fed to over excessive amounts, we must let him learn that enabling such behavior is out of the question." Ed, in a surprisingly serious tone, responded.

Double D couldn't even believe what he just heard from Ed. While yes, it's most likely one of Ed's random "bursts of intelligence", he actually made a good point, which is that, Eddy needs to be directly shown how this isn't a good thing, not TOLD. This gives Double D an idea.

"Ed, I have a plan."

The basic plan is: Double D and Ed are going to agree with everything Eddy says, so that Eddy is going to think that everything he does will be, all so perfect, so to say. But, then Double D hopes that it all turns on Eddy, because at this point, he's at a wit's end as to how to convince Eddy that all of this stuff just isn't going to be in his favor as much as he thinks so.

Anyways, Chris was currently on the couch, thinking, as, either way, he had already finished the decor. He is still in some thought about what happened at the end of school today, because it was unusual... but why? Although, he might want to pause his thoughts, because he notices that Eddy has finished dressing up.

"Oh Eddy, it seems that you are rea-"

Chris pauses, because he couldn't even believe what in god's name Eddy was wearing. He was openly laughs about it too. Well then.

"What's so funny?" Eddy asked.

"DUDE!" Chris shouted out loud. "You look like some dude from the 1960s or 70s! That is NOT what you wanna look like tonight. Like, I can't believe this crap..."

Eddy gets annoyed, again. "Come on! The other two guys gave me trouble, and you too?!"

"FOR GOOD REASON, might I add?" Chris boldly stated. "Brother, get your head out of it, and go back and pick something that's not nearly as, honestly? Unbelievably stupid... Jesus Christmas!"

"Now just a second Chris! We actually believe that Eddy has a decent chance with this clothing decision!" Double D said, as he was coming down the stairs.

Chris was blown away. "Are you freaking kidding me?! He looks like someone who lives in a trailer that works near a gas station!"

Uh, Chris, you DO realize that some three girls live in a-

"Yeah yeah, in poor taste, my bad. But the point still stands!"

"Relax Chris. All Eddy has to do is just be focusing on his persona and general acts. The looks will become of less importance of her, I am more than positive of it." Double D stated.

Chris has SEVERE doubts that this will be the case, but, at this point, does he really have a choice but to accept this? Yeah, didn't think so either. Haha.

"Ugh... fine..." Chris said. "Eddy, if this actually works, you know what? Double the bet money. Thirty bucks says that you WILL NOT get her with you, and that this outfit will not work!"

"Oh, you're on!"

The two share a little handshake in the form of an arm wrestle, in which Chris beats Eddy. The former then brings up, "So, when the heck is... Violet I think her name was, supposed to arrive?"

"Well, it's 4:15 PM right now, and she agreed on 4:30 So, we got some time boys!"

All three were shocked. Double D then says, "Wait, you mean to tell us that you and her agreed to meet up barely an hour after school ended?"

"What's wrong with that?" Eddy asked. "She wanted it to be faster and not take longer than it should."

"Oh my gosh...". Chris said out loud. "Dude! You realize that you get nearly no time to prepare when you do that stuff? You need to at least have 2 hours to prepare! Not like, what, 20 minutes? You're gonna appear so sloppy that, it's gonna be a turn off to her. My god, I think honestly this is more of a lesson of what NOT to do."

But then, the doorbell rings. Why though? Eddy goes to check, and...

"Hello, who's-"

Surprise, surprise, it's Violet. She decided to arrive earlier than normal, to the surprise of literally everyone who is present. That includes us, so... yeah.

"Sup?" Violet says, popping a bubble she made from gum. She then notices that Eddy's friends are all in the house. "Oh hey, your friends. Are they going to be here? Because... that's awkward."

"Everyone! Out out out!" Eddy yelled out, almost immediately. And, well, everyone rushes outside, in what seems like a military marching line or something, but the point is, they left. Wow.

"Jesus... did he really have no other way of telling us to leave?" Chris stated, slightly annoyed.

Double D only chuckles, saying, "I suppose so. By the way Chris, we have to let you in on a secret."

"What's that?"

Meanwhile, back in Eddy's living room, Violet actually notices what Eddy is wearing, and she says, "Dude, you look kinda silly."

"What's wrong with my classic look?" Eddy asked her.

"Uh... I guess I have to teach you that, we aren't in the 70s. The fact is, my goodness... you should be thankful I'm not gonna tell anyone in school about this outfit, because holy moly, it's embarrassing." Violet, bluntly, explained.

"_Think, think! What should I do?" _A panicked Eddy says in his mind.

The two peeps sit down and Eddy has an idea. "_Kiss! That's what Double D does with Marie, so I should be fine. Besides, she was impressed by the performance, right?"_

That... doesn't sound too smart to do. But, Eddy does it, and wow, in a quite quick fashion, Violet literally pushes him off. Oh dear...

"WHAT THE HECK? Relax, we haven't even done anything else. I know I kissed you before, but that was more of a friend kiss, you know?" Violet stated. "So, take it slower man. We haven't done much yet."

That... is the dictionary definition of embarrassing. Violet initially thought about beating the heck out of Eddy for what he just tried to do, but it was just one mistake so, she decided to forgive for now, but she's gonna keep an eye out for any more random things Eddy might do.

Speaking of Eddy, he is actually checking Violet out, and he is not making it seem subtle in the slightest. For what he notices, unsurprisingly, she has very dark violet like hair, she is wearing some black jeans, and a shirt that is a V-neck, and, while it has a cover for her arms, it makes her arms look faded, as they are beneath a light, black sleeve. Remember how I mentioned Eddy isn't making it subtle? Gee, I wonder why.

"Hey!" Violet shouted out.

Eddy jumped, as she was not expecting that. "What's up?"

"You know what. Didn't your mom or someone teach you respect...?" Violet, slightly annoyed, said.

"_Come on! Come on! Think, think..." _Eddy thought in his head. He manages to get something out, "Sorry, I've never exactly done something like this."

Violet laughs a little, saying. "It shows man. Anyways, why don't you explain to something, why did you bring me up to the stage for that dance?"

"Uh..." Eddy said, stopping to get his thoughts in order. "Well, the song we played was my idea, for the most part, and that part was more of a... last second decision."

"Really? Well, that was actually a pretty decent song. But what about the other guys?"

Eddy got a little confused. "What about them?"

"They WERE the same ones who performed, the ones who left literally moments ago." Violet explained. "So, how did you and them get together to practice for it?"

Eddy, once again, pauses to think and gather his thoughts together. Once he gets them down enough, he tells her, "As it happens, we all were hanging out together, and I brought it up to them. Then, they all basically followed my lead on how to do stuff, and I had them follow everything I had in mind."

Little do either Eddy or Violet know, the other three lads are watching behind a bush, as the two are in front of a window. And, Chris is laughing a bit. Why? Well...

"Did he really JUST say that he lead everything? Certain parts he did, but ALL?! That just blows me away man... wow." Chris said, flabbergasted.

Double D, while still doing his little trick on Eddy, couldn't believe what he said either. "Eddy's overconfidence has apparently turned to fantasy land. This is just silly!"

"Should we go save him guys?" Ed asked the two lads.

Chris told Ed, "Nah. Because clearly, he needs to get a reality check, as, did you see what else he did? And I'm surprised Violet just... directly called him out. I get a feeling this will not end well for him if he doesn't change his attitude and... well, everything really! Golly, this is bad, bad bad bad..."

"I agree." Double D responded. "Eddy may live in fantasy land, but we do not."

So, how is Eddy doing now? Well, he just finished telling the "story" of how he and the other three dudes got together to practice and perform that song. Spoiler alert: He MAJORLY rewrote the actual events to make it so that it would appear that he did more, and the other did very little. Violet's reaction?

"Dude. You know that I know that you're just giving yourself all the credit, right?"

"Huh?" Eddy said.

Violet slaps her forehead before speaking, "You literally made it seem like, they contributed nearly nothing to the performance! Even though, they came in the same outfit that you came with, and I saw you four go, at the same time, to the cafeteria to set everything up. You even asked two of the guys to help you with something even!"

Busted! Hahaha! There was only awkward silence for around 10 seconds before Violet continued, saying, "Also, honestly? Your drummer was the best performer out of you four. You all did great, but the fact that you are here acting like, 'oh it was all me'... that's disgusting!"

Eddy is speechless. He probably should've gave the lads more credit, because for the record, while he may have created the idea, he didn't do it solo. Scratch that, A LOT more credit. My goodness...

"Why would you even do that? Just, give your friends credit!"

Violet has had enough of Eddy's behavior. "I'm sorry, but I'm done. Your outfit, you staring, and you making yourself to be the most important? No. Just no. Bye!"

"WAIT!" Eddy said, grabbing her arm. Uh...

"Get the hell off!" Violet shouted.

She manages to open the door, but when it is clear that Eddy won't let go... she ends up punching him. And lemme tell you, it did NOT look like a soft punch.

"Don't contact me again! Jesus..." Violet yelled at him.

And so, Violet leaves, very much annoyed at what she just witnessed. That was a massive disaster, wow.

"Wait Violet! I want to..." Eddy pauses, as he notices that she quite far from him, and... yeah she is not going to be able to hear him.

"Bravo Eddy! You were able to really capture that young lady's attention!" Double D said clapping, while leaving the bush. And the other two lads joined in. Chris has a grin on his face though.

"Oh no, staring at her chest, and GIVING MYSELF ALL THE CREDIT didn't work?!?! That's such a shocker!" Chris said, mocking Eddy.

Eddy is severely embarrassed right now, as he should be, because it seemed like one minute, he had the world around his fingertips, and... yeah, fell down hard.

"Okay okay, I get it!" Eddy fires back at them. "Would you mind explaining what I did wrong? I swear, I had it."

The four boys head inside, and they all sit down to discuss what in the world just happened. Chris began to speak first, and he is very much annoyed.

"First of all... why did you act like the performance was basically all lead by you? Like, do you really just want it to all be about you? Because we can easily make it all you by having us three not perform with you, and then it's all for you to do. Like, I don't know what you're telling yourself that makes it right for you to say that, but it is not a good message, lemme tell you that much." Chris stated.

Double D then throws his two cents, "Eddy, you also need to acknowledge the very much... inappropriate actions you did. For example, did you really think that a kiss, mere minutes after you got together for the date would work?"

"Hang on!" Eddy said, interrupting Double D, "Isn't that how Marie got you? Or you got her?"

"Incorrect. It was a deep discussion about the circumstance we were in at that time, not a love bubble at first sight." Double D clarifies. "Back to the point, Eddy, very hasty decisions do not win over the feelings of a girl."

Chris lifts his thumb up, as to agree with Double D. "By the way Eddy, I saw what you did too. I can't even believe that you didn't think she would notice! You're lucky that she didn't freakin rip your head off!"

Although he may not directly admit it, Eddy has lots of guilt in him. NOW he understood why Chris kept telling him that just because he and the crew did this performance, it DOES NOT mean everything has magically turned into "grab everything in sight, as it's all yours".

"Alright... you all were right. It's not as easy as I thought it was going to be, but... perhaps I just thought that it was easier to make stuff up to impress her?" Eddy admits.

Ed jumps in, saying, "My good friend, you have at least learned that important lesson, of knowing what was done wrong, and you shall learn from it!"

"Although Ed's random burst of intellect is still a strange thing, he does bring a good point." Double D said. "Eddy, do you now see why we told you that your assumption of it being easy was absurd?"

Eddy shakes his head to say yes. "Yeah, I'm sorry okay? And... sorry also for making it seem you guys were unimportant in the performance. You all are, that's the facts. It just seemed like the only way to... I guess get her reeled in?"

The four share a little laugh, after which Chris says, "We all forgive you. And thank you, because you now see why the idea of getting a significant other becoming easier JUST because of a performance, is ridiculous!"

Chris laughs a bit before he explains to Eddy, "Like, Eddy... I'm going to ask you this, if I copied what you did with Violet, and did it with Skylar, do you actually think she's gonna admire that?"

"Absolutely not!" Eddy responded.

"Exactly. So, you have to prove to both her and you that you two can offer each other comfort, affection, and, most of all, attention. Basically, make her your rainbow in the dark!" Chris said, with a strange singing voice at the end, making the other lads laugh a bit.

After a couple seconds or so of silence, Eddy says, "So, what you guys wanna do?"

"I'm up to hang out for a bit, and relax. You should change out of those clothes though, because we are going to poke fun at that man, hahaha!" Chris told Eddy.

After Eddy changed his attire to his normal wear, he and the lads decided to watch some movies, but this time, actual quality ones, not ones that were terrible to the point where they were funny. Eddy got reminded of something however. When Chris mentioned Skylar, he remembered how the former seemed concerned, or was at least thinking of the latter. Once this hangout was done, Eddy told himself that he was going to talk with Chris afterwards, because he wants to see what's up. After all, Chris looked out for him, so it's only fair in Eddy's mind that he try to at least figure out what's going on. His best guess is Skylar was acting strange or something, but only then when he talks with Chris will Eddy find out.

Kinda bittersweet, this chapter no? Actually... that word fits it! Bitter for the first half, and sweet the second half! Nice, haha!


	42. Chapter 42: Come As You Are

_Author's Note: Howdy. You might've noticed that the "Pre-Chapters" for Chapters 1, 7, and 9 are gone. Well, it bothered me seeing those three counting as "chapters", so I removed them, and put them into their respective chapters. Not to worry, they are in still in the story, just in their chapters. Now, the chapter order is normal. Anyways, onto the actual story! _

Chapter 42: Come As You Are

As it happens, the lads spent quite a few hours, unbeknownst to them, watching entertaining movies. Some were shorter than others, but other extended past 2 hours, which was absurd, but luckily for them, it was 9:00 PM, which wasn't that late, but they all concluded that, well... it was best to save any further activities for tomorrow. Although, Eddy still remembers what he planned to do, so...

"Hey Chris! I need to talk to you about something. Can you stay for a bit?"

Chris says, "Yeah sure. Mom will be fine, she doesn't worry too much, as long as I'm home before ten or so. Ed and Double D! Take care lads!"

"Rest well everyone!" Double D said, while leaving.

"Adios everyone!" Ed yelled out, running to his home.

And so, Chris and Eddy are free to discuss anything they want for the night. They both take a seat in the living room, and so... it begins.

"I got a question dude." Eddy told Chris.

"Yeah?"

Eddy inhales and exhales sharply, because something tells him that asking this might be a... not so great decision, but he just has to know. "Okay, well... I've noticed that you've been distant after the performance. What's going on man?"

"Ah, well..." Chris stated. "It's about Skylar. She is just acting so weird. Like, okay, before we performed, she asked me if I was going to indulge in that... getting all the girls stuff? I guess that's what you call it. Anyway, I told her no, but I guess after she saw how much admiration I got from others for it... I can't even tell ya anymore. She seemed like... she was concerned, yet annoyed with me. I tried to talk to her, but she only said goodbye, and left."

Eddy appeared concerned. "What? Are you gonna talk to her tomorrow?"

"I'll try." Chris responded. "But it will most likely be up to her to decide if she wants to talk to me. Not me to her. It sucks, but I doubt that I'll get the chance. It doesn't mean I won't try to talk to her, because surely, she's going to explain it... hopefully."

"You need any help?"

Chris laughs, before saying, "Nah dude, it's not like I'm gonna shout at the devil or something. Though again... I hope not. Skylar is a good woman, but I wouldn't say she is very... predictable."

The two of them share a laugh before Eddy says, "Oh, is that embarrassment I hear?"

"No you idiot! Back off man!" Chris said while chuckling a bit. "I mean like, she can be normal, a little bit on her alluring side, excited, and just... out of the blue distant."

Eddy then asks him, "if say it does actually work out... would you take her?"

Chris thinks for a moment, because that's actually a pretty good question. He isn't sure exactly as of this moment, but it's probably due to the current circumstances. Either way, he gives Eddy a response. "Honestly? Yeah. I mean, remember what I told you? That if someone were to have a connection over me with music, it would be the best thing ever? Well... it speaks for itself!"

The two share another laugh, before Chris continued, "But, I gotta admit, it's not just that. Alright, mock me later, but she is really beautiful, okay? Also, as a whole, she fun to hangout with. Although, I can say all of this, but ultimately, it's down to what you and the other person do. As I said before, make them your rainbow in the dark! Or any other metaphor that is of admiration."

"You got some good knowledge. How do you know this? Because it seems like you HAVE been in a relationship." Eddy said, curiously.

Chris chuckles before he explains. "No no man, the way I see it, you have to have some knowledge of things. Of course, knowledge without experience isn't fully effective or whatever, but it DOES help, more than having neither, I can tell ya. So, hey, I'm not gonna rush it, because... no matter what, there is no time limit on it. We might not meet our so called, 'significant others', right now, but we have all the time man."

"That's... wow." Eddy said, surprised at what he just heard. "You have some knowledge, no denying that man. I get what you're saying. Well, if you need any help with Skylar, rest assured, I'll be helping as much as I can."

Chris throws a thumbs up, before he then says, "Also, for your date next time, listen to us, alright? Because trust me, I think a dude with a girlfriend can tell you a thing or two, hahaha!"

"I suppose so, eh? Is it bad that I'm still kinda surprised at the fact that Double D and Marie are a thing?"

Chris thought about it for a second, before he said, "Well, considering your part with her and her sisters, it's understandable. But hey, as Double D told us, he basically decided to bury this hatchet, and make a new with her... and look what happened! A seemingly good relationship. Well, at least until Lee tried to screw it up, but she failed."

"Man..." Eddy said. "That was ridiculous. They both got into something that seemed like the next war or... I don't know man. I'm glad that he's still with her though, as it seems they actually love each other. And it's not Marie forcing it. Granted, knowing sockhead, he probably is having her force it a bit."

"Maybe. Haha!" Chris stated.

Eddy brought up another thing he had in mind. "So, do you want to do another performance sooner or later?"

"For right now, let's just wait a bit. I don't wanna overdo it, because if you do, people are going to find it progressively less and less special. That's how it is with... many things."

Although Eddy would like to just perform and perform, it obviously has two issues. One, what Chris stated earlier was very much true, because eventually, they would become very stale and repetitive if they kept overdoing it. Two, the practice sessions require time, and sure, they did the song they performed good enough... doing that for other songs is going to eventually backfire, because you just need time, at the end of the day.

"You're right. Let's just wait it out. Besides, we barely got off from doing the last performance."

"Exactly." Chris told Eddy. "We can't do it repeatedly. And even then, we have to decide on the next song."

"That's true. Are we going to do something different or similar? You decide."

Chris chuckles, as he has some ideas of songs. But he says, "I mean, perhaps we could do something more in your face like Pantera, or something similar to Motley Crüe, like AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne or... I dunno man! We have many options. We can also do something a little bit more simple like Nirvana, but we have to talk about it with the other dudes aswell."

"You got any songs of theirs I can give a spin?" Eddy asked.

"Well..." A thinking Chris said. "I mean, I think something like... 'T.N.T', and maybe 'In Bloom', and also something like 'Hellraiser'. As for a Pantera song, well... the best I can give you is 'I'm Broken'."

Eddy throws his thumbs up, before he says, "Great! I think we should get to sleep though, and your mom I don't wanna bother."

"Yeah... she won't be mad though, it'll be fine." Chris stated to Eddy.

As Chris gets up to leave, Eddy has ONE last thing to tell him. "Hey! Uh..."

"Yeah...?"

"Sorry, again, for seemingly ditching you guys during that date I had." Eddy stated.

"Eddy, it's okay, alright?" Chris said, while rolling his eyes. "Just don't do that again. Because if for no other reason than... I hope you learned how to play four instruments at once. Also, may I just be honest?"

Eddy raised his eyebrow, waiting for Chris's response. Which was...

"Violet and you were NEVER going to be a thing. I mean, I don't know her a single bit, but you two just didn't seem comfortable with each other, like... at all. Not to insult you, but I think it's for the best anyways. You always have another chance, just... let me and the other two help you, okay?" Chris told Eddy.

As his response, Eddy said, "I guess... you're right in a way."

"Just go rest man. We've had an overly ridiculous day. Take care my friend!" Chris said, while closing the door.

And so, that's the wrap up for their little convos. Although, there are a couple things that occurred between them. Let's see what's up!

On Chris's side, he gets home, and he tells his mom what occurred in the large amount of time that he was absent from his home. Lucky for him, his mom had no issue with the activities, even then, she knows that it's all for fun. Either way, Chris goes to his room, and decides to relax a bit, by playing some more slow type of music.

It's now 9:20 PM, and as he sat on his bed, listening to the song "Planet Caravan", he just reminded himself about Skylar. He kinda wants to give her a call, but he severely doubts that she's going to answer, especially at this hour. Plus... with the current situation, it's unlikely she wants to see, or even hear him. Why? That he still does not understand at all.

"_Do I actually want to do that..." _Chris said in his mind. His decision? He's going to try at least. Even then, what's he got to lose? Maybe a couple seconds of his time, but nothing serious. So, he doesn't expect anything. And so, he hits the call button on his phone, and he waits. While he waits, he finds it funny that the song that JUST decided to play was "You Could Be Mine". Hmmm... odd timing indeed.

Anyways, after 15 seconds, the call went to voicemail, and Chris said, "Yeah that was predictable. Oh well. I might as well get ready to sleep, right?"

Chris goes to brush his teeth, and generally gets set up afterwards to sleep.

But surprise surprise! Someone is calling him!

"Who's that?"

And his face is filled with surprise. It's Skylar.

"_Hmm... okay..." _Chris says in his mind, before he answers and says, "Hello?"

There was only slience.

"Um, hello?" Chris said again.

"Hi..." Skylar said over the phone, sounding tired. Chris was just confused.

"_Why is she like this?! Okay, we gotta plan something me, let's ask her." _Chris says, yet again, in his mind, before he speaks saying, "Look, you might not want to talk, but I would like to talk, because this isn't making sense. I'm willing to listen, but you don't want to talk to do anything, I can't help."

Skylar, with that same tone, says. "Ok. Lunch."

"Sure thing. I gotta rest, but you take care okay? Good night." Chris tells her.

"Yeah." Skylar says.

"Are you okay?" Chris asked, slightly concerned.

"Yes. I'm fine. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye."

And so, they hang up. Chris says to himself, "How am I going to talk to her, with she barely said any words that entire conversation!?"

He takes a couple of deep breaths, trying to relax his mind, because that mindset of questioning everything is NOT going to help. It's always something that his martial arts teacher taught him, and he's putting that to the test. Now, for what's to occur tomorrow, that's a mystery within itself.

"Well, take what you want I guess. I have no idea anymore..." Chris told himself, facepalming. Once he said that, he decided to just go sleep, as he had nothing else to do, and his mind was too much of a mess to bother with playing any games currently. That's what you call a literal mess, I will add.

On Eddy's side of things, he was currently finishing up his chores of simply brushing his teeth and showering, just because. Either way, Eddy finishes those two tasks, and lays in his bed, currently thinking about today's event. In fact, he believe that he is thinking about things... maybe a bit more than usual. I mean, let's run the down list! He did a pretty huge performance with his friends, that went nearly perfect, and got himself a date, that... let's be honest, went quite bad. So, he's had quite the adventure today, some good, some bad, quite the balance, wouldn't you say? Although, now Eddy is thinking about what's to occur TOMORROW, because it's not gonna be all smooth sailing. Managing fame from a performance is... rather complicated than you might think.

Eddy thinks that he'll manage it okay, but he wonders for his friends. Then again, the situation is different for all four of them, so... they have their own set of scenarios. Either way, at the end of the day, Eddy concludes that he, and his other friends, will manage it.

Another thing that crosses his mind, is... where has Lee gone? For quite a while now, Eddy has picked up on the fact that she's basically been rendered mute towards him. While, yes, he is BEYOND relieved that she has stopped doing that... at this point, whether he is to admit it or not, he doesn't wish anything... terrible per se, to happen to her. But it raises a question then, do he actually care about her? He has beyond little reason to do so, granted, but even then, it's only ridiculous flirting that was taken beyond ground zero. Okay, that makes little sense, but you get the point! Maybe he should try to, as Chris once suggested, "get something together with her". This doesn't mean a date exactly, but... it does mean something. What that something is, Eddy has to find out. Sooner or later.

Eddy decided to go to sleep, as he felt like he was thinking about things too much, so... resting, it is.

Quite the... thought provoker, right? Huh. 


	43. Chapter 43: Heart-Shaped Box

Chapter 43: Heart-Shaped Box

So, a new day, another drama? Let's see.

Well, the lads met up around 7:50 AM to get ready to head on out to the school building, with... quite the different and new situation for them, to say the least eh? Either way, once they make it there at 8 AM they are, unsurprisingly, by some fellow classmates, getting them props for the performance, and among other things. Although, they are greeted by Kevin, who is early to school, surprisingly.

"Yo dudes! That was sick yesterday!" Kevin said.

"Hey Kev! Thanks!" Eddy responded. "What's bringing you here early?"

Kevin tells Eddy and the other lads, "You see man... Nazz's birthday is tomorrow, but she wants to have more guests coming to attend. I have no idea why, but she just does. Can you guys help me out with that?"

"Sure." Chris said, joining in. "How can we help?"

"Well, just pass these." Kevin says, giving the four some cards as invitation to the party. "The party will be hosted at my house. From 6:30 to 11 PM at the latest."

"Alright then." Eddy said. "We'll pass these out during class, but we best be fast about it! Don't want the teachers to get on us."

"That's all too true. Don't worry Kevin. We will do our best to gets this to as many people as possible. Heck, I'll invite some of my friends I know!" Chris stayed.

"That reminds me, I was thinking if you guys would wanna go?" Kevin asked the 4 lads.

"Sure!" All four responded, simultaneously.

"Awesome! I've already invited the others, like Rolf and Jonny. They all said that they would go." Kevin told the group of 4.

The group of, well, now 5, basically exchanged a bunch of details about the upcoming party, such as the activities, food and drinks (nothing alarming), and other stuff that the initial group of 4 would be curious about. After around 15 minutes, you know time it is! Ding ding ding! Class time!

"Well, at least we have our full groups. Okay, not really, we are missing the girls, but yeah." Chris said.

Eddy then tells him and Kevin, "Let's get to Math guys. Ed and Double D! Catch ya later!"

"Same here Eddy. Ed, let's proceed to Spanish." Double D said.

Ed waved at his other three pals, and so, they are off to class!

At Math...

This could prove interesting. Anyways, once the group of three get to class, Mr. Muta isn't there yet surprisingly, so they decide to give out invites to the WHOLE class for the party. To their benefit, all of them basically said yes, so, bam! They decide to take their seats, and JUST in the nick of time when Mr. Muta arrives. While in their seats, Kevin mentions to the other two about the music, saying, "You guys got any ideas for music though? Can't have it be just people talking and stuff."

"Hmm... I know some good lighter metal and rock songs, so... lemme work my magic, and I'll have a list ready." Chris stated.

Eddy followed up with, "I got records at my house, we can use those."

"Sweet!" Kevin responded. "Get it all set tonight, and tomorrow, we will get it prepared!"

The three share a laugh, before Mr. Muta stands up and calls attendance. However, as soon as he says the first name, Skylar comes in, listening to Slipknot's 1999 album, "Slipknot", and just in time for class. She seems normal so far, greeting Mr. Muta, and apologizing for being slightly late. Muta says that it's okay, plus, she's not even late.

Skylar pauses the album for now, and takes her usual seat next to Chris, but he somehow does not seem to notice her, for some reason...?

"Hey." She says to him. And so, he turns around.

"Oh... hey. How are-"

He is cut off by a out-of-nowhere hug. Probably as her sorry for her random attitude. Chris, although caught off guard, gives it back.

"Well, that's a way to say hi, isn't it?" Chris said, surprised.

"I guess, hmm?" Skylar said back, afterwards they break the hug. "Look, I'm up to talk at lunch still, but let me just say, sorry for acting weird yesterday."

Chris chuckles a bit before he says, "It's okay. It was just random and... I don't know, I was confused and slightly concerned. I'm also still up to talk for a bit at lunch, but I got some news for you."

Skylar put a face of curiosity, before Chris explained. "You see... Kevin told me and the other three that he is hosting a party for his girlfriend's birthday at his house, and he asked us to invite as many people as we can. So, since that's the case-"

"Yes."

Someone has telepathic powers! Chris, obviously not getting what she's hinting at, says, "What?"

"I'll go with you. That's what you're going to ask me, no?" Skylar bluntly stated.

"_Wow... not how I planned that, but... no complaints right?" _Chris said in his mind, before saying out loud, "Yeah... well, okay then. It will be at 6:30 PM tomorrow, so... take your time. I don't think people will be that early, in fact... from my experience, I expect they will be there like, maybe fifteen minutes? But that's just me."

"Cool cool. I'll let my parents know, and then I'll get ready tomorrow. I hope you will do the same." Skylar said with a hint of allure. Chris only rolled his eyes, as he notices that she's doing "that" game again.

He responded, "Yeah. Sure. If you're going to arrive later than usual, call me and tell me, okay?"

Skylar gives a thumbs up while smiling a bit, and then, Mr. Muta begins the lessons for today's Math.

What about in Spanish? 

In Spanish, a quite different set of events occurred. Let's see what's up!

Ed and Double D take their seats, at different tables, but behind each other, just so they leave the seat next to them open to May and Marie, respectively. Speaking of May and Marie... they (along with Lee) end up walking in no less than 30 seconds after the Eds came in. Lee decides to take a whole table to herself, as Marie takes her seat next to Double D, greeting him with a kiss, and May takes her seat next to Ed, the two of which smile at each other. May begins speaking to Ed.

"Hey Ed. How have you been?" May asked.

Ed simply responded with "All is well! How is May today?"

"Okay." May said, admiring Ed's speech. "Is everything good after your performance?"

"As so!" Ed blurts out loud.

Ed notices something different about May, as her attire is quite different from normal. She still has her normal barrette, along with her normal long hair, but she has a light blue shirt, and white jeans on, with some black shoes on her. Ed actually thinks that she looks quite... pretty, to his surprise.

"May. You look quite pretty today!" Ed told May directly. Not exactly subtle, but then again, Ed has never been used to complimenting people in their appearance. (if anything, he compares the looks to stuff he's seen in horror movies, comics, action movies, etc...)

Regardless, May turns red quite a bit, and says, slurring a bit, "Thanks...! I appreciate that!"

"Wow. Would you believe that? I didn't think he had it in him!" Marie tells Double D, witnessing what just occurred.

Double D tells Marie. "It is unusual behavior from Ed, but it isn't anything abnormal. In fact, it is more of a gesture of appreciation."

"Yeah right!" Marie said. "You know, I think those two are going to get into something together."

"Marie, what would make you say that?" Double D asks.

Marie states, "Think about it, those two are literally like mirror reflections or whatever of each other! Plus, they have been getting together and talking more these days, right? So, ask me honey, they are getting closer."

"Huh... I suppose you are correct in those assessments Marie. Might I add also that Ed is seemingly over his fear of May, and of the opposite sex as a whole. I'm truly proud that he has allowed more new friends!" Double D said while smiling a bit.

Marie then tells Double D, "If only we could say the same for Eddy and Lee."

"Ah... well. For them, they simply have to reduce their attitude of being rebellious, and only then will something arise." Double D tells her.

"True I guess." Marie said. "Although, Chris and Skylar seem to be good too. I just hope he doesn't get aggressive with her."

Double D raised an eyebrow. "Why would you say that Marie? Is this in connection to that situation that occurred with Lee and Chris? Marie, for the record, Chris had no intention of using his abilities of martial arts for harm, it was Lee who escalated the problem to physical combat."

"Yeah, but... I just wanna be sure he isn't going to be stupid with it." Marie stated. "But it seems like they are constantly teasing each other, or they are connecting over heavy metal music."

"Their connection over music is quite remarkable. I must admit, it definitely seems to bring them as one." Double D remarked.

Marie then mentions, "So, it's three out of four couple basically?"

"Where are you getting the other one from?" Double D asks confused.

"Us. Duh." Marie said, blowing a raspberry at him.

Double D got the feeling of realization. Because, well... Marie IS correct, right? He ends up laughing about it, before he says, "You got me there I suppose. Which reminds me, Marie, I actually something I wish to invite you to."

Marie smiles, waiting for Double D to explain. And explain, he does.

"You see Marie, Kevin has done the noble act of making a party for his significant other, Nazz. He asked me and my friends this morning if we could pledge some of our time to invite ours fellow friends to the party. I am pretty sure that Chris, Kevin and Eddy have done so in their class, hopefully at the start of it. So, would you like to come?"

"Of course silly!" Marie says while pitching Double D a bit. "Can May and Lee come too?"

"Certainly! Just as long as no trouble is brought about. That is all I ask." Double D tells her.

Marie kisses him, after which she laughs about it aswell.

After that conversation occurs though, Ms. Sofia officially started the Spanish class, therefore, any further conversations would have to wait a bit. How unfortunate.

At lunch...

Well, it is TIME. He won't admit it, but Chris has been basically thinking about how this conversation is about to go. Because, god forbid it's some "end of the world" type of thing. Ok, maybe not that, but it HAS to be important... right? Otherwise, Chris will have 0 clue as to what to think. Anyways, it's lunch, and everyone is at the usual table, although this time, they are joined by Kevin and Nazz, making a crew of 11! Sadly, not for long because... isn't it obvious?

"You wanna go now?" Skylar whispers to Chris.

"Yeah." He responds. "Yo guys! I'll be back in a bit."

Eddy tells him, "Sure man. No worries. I'm still going to be talking about the party, go do what you gotta do."

Skylar tells the others, "I'm gonna go for a bit. Catch ya in a few."

Marie tells her, while chuckling a little, "Alright then."

And so, the two of them leave the table to go outside to that SAME tree from when they first had a "private talk", so to say. Deja vu, again? Hahaha!

"So... I guess I should ask, what's up?" Chris said first.

Skylar sighs a bit, before she begins to speak. "Okay... well, this isn't easy to say, so first off, you are to NEVER say anything about this, EVER. Got that? This stays between us."

"_What the hell...? Well, best agree man, because this sounds important." _Chris says in his mind, before stating, "You have my word."

"Thanks. So, a while back, I used to date someone who... I don't even want to say their name anymore because like... he was just a lost cause I refused to accept until I ended the relationship. At first, he seemed nice and all, the only thing he got annoyed with me was the music I liked, but even then, he tolerated it. But that wasn't the issue."

"What was the issue?" Chris asked, not exactly liking where this is headed.

"After around three or so months of dating, I think, 'he is a great guy'... I was an idiot. You know what I find him doing next?"

Chris, reluctantly, asks, "What?"

"I called him to meet me at my house, no response. Okay, maybe he's busy, but he never does this. I called him five more times, before I decide to head to his house. He doesn't live far, so... no trouble. I look through the window, and he is on his couch with three other girls. Who they were, I had no idea. I was seriously angry, I actually kicked his door open. I'm not gonna detail everything... but you can bet on one thing... I ended up just going through a kaleidoscope of emotions..."

Skylar doesn't say anything else. Chris is stunned by this news, although, NOW it makes sense why she was concerned about the whole fame stuff from the other day. Regardless, to him, this is a lot to take in.

"What is actually wrong with that dude...? I am actually trying to find a reason for just why... but like, even to me, that's low beyond low." Chris stated, but then he notices Skylar's face turning sad. He decides to hug her for a bit, in an attempt to comfort her.

"_This is beyond ridiculous... but I can't just leave! That is stupid to even consider right now!" _Chris said to himself.

"After that..." Skylar began to speak again, while Chris lets go. "I never saw him again. Not that I even wanted to, especially after that crap. I got over it, but since then... can't really say I look back and think of that well. I just imagine myself beating the hell out of him. These days, I dedicate the song, 'Eeyore', to him. Or, 'Surfacing' works too."

"Ha, funny. Skylar, I got a question." Chris states.

"Yes?"

"Why would you be concerned about me getting into that type of stuff?" Chris asks. "Because trust me... that stuff is NOT my thing at all. And, god forbid I do that stuff when I AM WITH SOMEONE! I would be the stupidest human alive to do that."

Skylar responded, "Well... I suppose I just didn't want you to get involved. It was just a... very sudden thing. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, you have nothing to apologize about. In fact, sorry you had to deal with that nonsense. Jeez..."

"Thanks." Skylar tells him. "I'm actually curious about something, is there someone you are interested in?"

"_You're kidding me... oh no... now what?!?!"_

Hahaha! Aren't we in a pickle now! As far as Chris knows, he has basically 0 options, because if he is to be honest, Skylar probably knows already, but maybe there is a way to admit it... WITHOUT admitting it directly.

"Well, not really honestly. I mean, I've perhaps taken a liking to someone, but not exactly too sure." Chris tells her.

Skylar laughs at him, telling him bluntly, "You are a horrible liar!"

"Oh my god, what makes you say that...?" Chris told her, slightly nervously.

"This is beyond easy to just... ahh man! You know what? I'm just gonna wait for you to admit it. You like someone." Skylar responds to Chris.

Chris chuckles nervously before saying to himself, "_Okay... that didn't seem to work..." _

You think?! It's quite a situation you're stuck in, when you try to throw an answer that should answer the question, but only extends it. Wow.

"Do you just wanna go back to the rest of them? I'm up to do so." Skylar tells him.

"Yeah." Chris resounds. "Also, no need to worry, I'm be sure to keep it private."

Skylar scoffs, before saying, "You better. Or you won't even imagine. I'm just messing with you, but yeah. Thanks for listening."

Chris nods as to signal "no issue", and so, both of them go back in to the cafeteria, back to the crew. When they both get back, it appears that conversations about the upcoming party are currently on.

"So yeah, snacks will be there too man, if you wanna bring stuff, bring it!" Kevin tells Eddy.

"Alright!" Eddy yells out. "This is gonna be sweet."

Eddy notices that Chris has returned, so he tells him, "Hey! How did it go?"

"Good. She wanted to talk about something, I listened. That's all." Chris, bluntly, responded.

"Alright then. Oh yeah, Kevin says that, if you can bring any snacks, bring em! Anything works!" Eddy told Chris.

"Well..." Chris thinks for a second. "Okay, I can bring some chips, and maybe a couple drinks. I think I'm gonna go shopping later with mom today, or if not, tomorrow."

Kevin tells Chris, "Right on!"

On the other side of the table, Skylar and Marie are having a conversation about the upcoming party themselves.

"So, did he invite you?" Skylar asks Marie.

"Yep!" Marie told her. "Asked me before Spanish started. Didn't even know about it until Double D told me."

Skylar laughs a bit before saying, "Funny. I got a different scenario."

"What?! Did he not invite you?!" Marie said, jokingly shocked.

"No... he was going to, but I knew once he told about the party and stuff. So, I said yes before he finished. He was surprised. I can tell." Skylar explains to Marie, the latter of which starts laughing a bit, and gives a fist-bump to the former.

"May!" Ed, out of the blue, yells out.

May, confused, asks Ed, "What's the matter Ed?"

"I... uh... would you wanna attend the party occurring today?" Ed said, getting the time of the party incorrect. Oh dear. But that was ignored by May, who felt like she got shocked by lightning or something. Was this really happening, is all she could say to herself.

Nazz, who was sitting inbetween Kevin and Ed, tells the latter, "Ed, dude, it's actually supposed to be tomorrow."

"Oh. Can May please come? Oh please?" Ed pleaded to Nazz, who only laughed a bit and responded to Ed...

"Sure. If you trust her, that's the more important part."

Ed jumps for joy, before he runs to May, grabbing her in a hug. As if we could shock May even more... my goodness, hahaha! Speaking of May, it should come as literally 0 surprise that while she's happy beyond happy... it's just surprised at the fact that Ed actively went and vouched for her to go.

Kevin, slightly surprised at what he witnessed, asks Eddy, "You guys plan to do anymore of those shows or whatever?"

Chris answers the question for Eddy, saying, "No man. Not right now, because the practice for last performance was like three days. We are going to need more time than that. Believe me."

"Aw man. That was awesome though, like, literally!" Kevin told Chris. "Hopefully you guys can do one more at least!"

"Thanks man! I'm sure we will. Again, time is needed for practice, but rest assured, we will try another soon." Chris responds to Kevin's comment.

Double D joins in to the conversation about the performances, saying, "I'm predicting at least a week or two's worth of practice. I shall admit, our performance for two days worth of practice was pretty passable for what it was worth, but I would prefer not to have repetition of that exact same situation."

"What he said." Chris stated.

The crew of 11 peeps spent the rest of lunch basically just having conversations about all different things. Of course, occasionally, the comment about the performance and upcoming party, but for the most part, it was just all normal conversation.

Quite the events... awesome!!


	44. Chapter 44: Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi!

_Author's Note: I didn't want to mention this, but I have to, because it's getting annoying. To the person (I won't say names) who does this, please STOP spamming reviews with random things involving the Eds/Kankers. I've removed like 8 of those, because it's the same thing each time. Please, do not spam it. Otherwise, reviews are well appreciated, be it positive/neutral/negative. Also, apologies for this chapter being delayed, ran into issues. All nonsense aside, onto the chapter!_

Chapter 44: Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi!

What, are we ready to explode or something?

Anyways, onto where we left off, the end of the school day seemingly came faster than anyone expected. Speaking of anyone, the crew of 11 people walked out of the school building, as obviously the school day ended. For the most part, things were smooth for everyone, as no one got into conflict with one another, for the time being at least.

However, something unusual occurs. Chris gets a text from his mom, telling him to go to the parking lot, as his mom planned to go shopping, and figured she should bring her son.

"Huh... that's new. Okay, hey lads! I can't go with you all today, because mom is at the parking lot, and we're going shopping!" Chris tells his friends.

Eddy told him, "Aw man! You got the perfect chance to get the snacks! Don't forget it!"

"Of course!" Chris responds. "Besides, it's hard not to, haha!"

And so, he tells the Eds plus Kevin bye, although for Skylar, it's a different story.

"I'll go with. My mom is also there." Skylar says.

"Oh!" Chris, slightly surprised, says. "Sure! Let's go."

And so, the two metal heads go to the parking lot together, for the same reason too! Talk about mirror matches!

"It just writes itself." Eddy said out loud. "Let's go guys! We got some planning to do."

Double D is about to join them, but is dragged by Marie for a quick second, who tells him, "Catch ya later."

His response? A simple smile, before Marie kisses him.

On the other side, May and Ed share a hug in order to bid each other adios!

"Take care May!" Ed yells towards her.

May responds, "You too!"

As for Lee, she only waves at the group of five to say goodbye, and so, the Kankers go to the trailer that they've always been at. Little does Lee know though that, Eddy takes notice of her _very _suspicious... behavior, as he puts it. He brushes this aside for now however.

The group of, again, five, start heading to the cul-de-sac, while discussing the party further.

"So, seems like Chris is going to get the snacks, right?" Kevin asks Eddy.

"Yeah." Eddy tells him. "I directly told him to do so. I'm sure he will. Besides, I'll chip in too, so I am sure that we won't have to worry."

Double D mentions to Eddy, "While the substances of consumption might be in current discussion, I must bring up, what music do we plan on playing precisely? Because, while I have no ill-will towards heavy metal music, I do not think that it will be very fitting, or appropriate for this sort of occasion. Unless, you and Chris have a compromise."

"Relax Double D, Chris told me that he has more toned-down stuff that will fit the party, plus, I'll bring in my jams too! We will have a mix, besides, it's not just me and him. Kevin, Nazz, and even Ed here, will pick some songs here and there." Eddy told his fellow friend.

Kevin added on, "Exactly man! So, it will have a mix for everyone. Which reminds me, I should've told him that there will be a group of people that like that type of music at the party too... shoot!"

"Relax Kev." Nazz tells him. "In fact, it'll be more of a surprise. For right now, just make sure you get the food and music sorted, but also reminder to all! Get your best set of clothes for it!"

Everyone chants a "yeah!" to that statement. And so, after around 10 or so minutes of walking, they all split to go to their respective houses, deciding collectively to take a break for a bit.

On Eddy's side of things, he is currently on his round bed that he has had for quite a while, to say the least. A fair while ago, his dad managed to get a TV that was a pretty decent size for a decent price, so he gave it to Eddy, along with a TV signal, set onto the roof. So now, he is able to watch anything he wants! Mostly anyways. Although, Eddy, yet again, started thinking about Lee while watching TV. It could be the fact that, yeah she no longer bothers him... but why? Or... also the fact that what Eddy is watching is a random romance type movie, that he randomly came across.

"_Do I even want to attempt this? Wonder what everyone else would think... huh..." _Eddy tells himself. "_I mean... what did Chris tell me... have a conversation right? But, come on! She'll probably shut the door before I can even say a word. Good thing no one is here to judge me, because wouldn't I feel it. Jeez..."_

Eddy takes a sip of his soda, before he continues thinking about this idea he has. "_I should at least try, no? It's not like I'll get anything bad from trying... right? Wait, it's LEE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! Even then, she's not exactly been bothering anyone since that incident."_

Eventually, Eddy leads to his conclusion. Which is... "_Forget it! Too risky to me to do it alone! When Chris gets back, I'll ask for his help. If he's willing to help, hopefully. Oh man... is something happening to this world!?!"_

After 30 or so minutes of messing around with other things, Eddy receives a text from Chris, saying, "_Got a massive score man...! 50 small bags of chips in a box! And only 10 dollars to boot! I'm going to get two, so get ready man. Also, I'm going to be home in 20 or so minutes, so... heads up!"_

Eddy texts him back, "_Alright then. Awesome! I need help with something though so, call me when you're back!"_

Chris's response was a simple thumbs up, and Eddy put his head in his hand, groaning at the fact that he had wait another 20 minutes for him to arrive. Even then, he got more time to think about how the heck he would do this conversation. Of course, there's always the direct way, but just... MAYBE, he could try a way that "builds up", to the point, so to say. Although, Eddy realizes that literally every time he's had an encounter with Lee, he does the former, every, single, time. The thing is, Lee's first response will be to do something like that. Eddy can only dread what that, "something", could be.

Sometime later...

Eddy hears a ring of his doorbell, and he goes over to answer. To his surprise, Chris arrived earlier than he told Eddy. But Eddy was not complaining, right?

"Hey! You came earlier than expected man!" Eddy told Chris.

Chris tells Eddy, "Managed to go faster than expected. Anyways, you need my help with something, from what I understand?"

Eddy and Chris take a seat in the living room, in order to discuss what the former has in mind.

"Yeah... listen man, you've noticed how quiet and distant Lee is?" Eddy explains to Chris.

"Uh-huh, I've noticed. Wonder why..."

Eddy further explained, "I want to ask her why. The thing is, I can't even be certain as to if she'll want to listen, and not rip my head off when I try to speak to her."

"I understand." Chris said. "Considering how she was persistent with her stance on Marie and Double D's relationship being a negative thing, I have no reason to seriously doubt that she will probably not listen to you. All due respect of course man."

"Okay... because I don't want to get into trouble, I need you as backup! You don't have to be involved with it, but if something goes bad, I'll need you to have my back." Eddy told Chris.

Chris shrugs a bit, stating, "Eddy, there is literally no reason for me to get involved with this situation, since it's ONLY you and her. Are you saying that you want me to be nearby in case something goes horribly wrong?"

"Yeah!" Eddy responded. "You don't have to be there for the conversation, just be near, okay?"

Well, that doesn't exactly comfort Chris, as he sighs thinking what in the world he is about to get dragged into. He then tells Eddy, "Look, normally I would say no and not get involved, but... since you're a good dude, and I like to have my friend's backs, I'll go. Shall we go now?"

"You read my mind. I'm set. Let's go." Eddy states.

And with that, they decide to make their way to the Kanker's trailer. A bold decision, but even then, is it really? At least this time, the circumstances are different then the, "visit", the Eds had that one time. Although, Chris brings something important up to Eddy.

"Should we get Double D or Ed?"

Eddy tells him, "I don't think they'd really want to help... let's just go man, the sooner we do this, the better."

"Figures. Fine then."

Eddy asks Chris a question while on route, "So, what happened with-"

However... Chris already knows. "If you're about to ask me what happened with Skylar after school when we walked together, we talked a bit, went to our cars, and that's it. Nothing else."

"Is she rubbing off on you? Because from what I've seen, she's always blunt with you." Eddy proceeds to ask instead.

Chris laughs a bit before he says, "Okay, a bit. I actually almost asked her to the party, but she cut off and said yes... like, it threw me off. But I guess I have a 'date', in a way."

Eddy claps for Chris's so-called achievement, while Chris simply rolls his eyes, "Relax. It's not an all out date or something like that, merely a hangout between two good lads, okay?"

Okay, this is just friend-zoning HARD right now, we have to admit. Eddy tried his hardest not to laugh at that statement, because again, talking about friend-zoning, goodness!

"Alright then man. You got your nunchucks and all?" Eddy said, changing the subject.

"No." Chris responds. "I don't need them, especially not for this. And Eddy? If something does occur, I will ONLY apply the needed force, if at all. What I did last time was beyond stupid and brash, and I don't wish to repeat it."

Eddy brings up, "But what about the cool moves you can do if you're in danger?"

"You underestimate me. Relax okay? I can handle myself, but I will not repeat that ridiculousness from twenty four chapters ago. Deal?" Chris explains to Eddy.

"Sure."

And so, after a couple more minutes or so of walking, the two of them get to the trailer. However, one issue. Eddy didn't exactly discuss how Chris would be in ready for "backup" or whatever. The latter gets an idea however. He goes to the window and sees that Marie and May are the only ones on the bottom floor, so to say, and Lee is most logically at the top. This works perfectly for Chris's idea.

"Okay, let's knock, and we will explain the scenario to the sister that answers. Lee isn't downstairs, so we are fine."

Then, Eddy knocks on the door, and they a bit, until Marie ends up answering the door, who is very surprised to see them.

"Hey. What do you two need?" Marie asks them.

"It's a bit of a story." Eddy tells her.

Eddy proceeds to explain the entire thing to Marie, and the latter is VERY, very shocked at the fact that the former is even attempting this. Then again, Lee hasn't exactly been willing to talk to her sisters these more recent days. Marie tells Eddy, "This is crazy, but fine. I can't tell you if she's in a good or bad mood though, so, careful. But what about him? Did you really have to bring him here Eddy?"

Chris says, "He wanted me to come. Listen Marie, tell Lee that she has a visitor who wants to talk to her. I will wait outside once she and Eddy get acquainted, then once that occurs, let me know and I will just be in the downstairs area."

Marie has some doubts as to if this "plan" will work at all, but Double D would probably encourage her to be more optimistic. So, ultimately, she agrees.

And so, Eddy comes in, and Marie yells out, "Lee! You have someone who wants to talk! Get down here!"

"Shut your trap!" Lee yelled, as she was walking out of the room. "Who could possibly be-"

And to her surprise, Lee sees Eddy. She is currently feeling very mixed, to say the least about seeing who she (sometimes) considered her "man". What could he possibly be here for, is the only running through her mind.

After like 10 seconds of "staring" at each other, Eddy says, in a low voice, "Wanted to talk. Privately."

Lee signals Eddy to come upstairs. As Eddy approaches the stairs, May comes out of the kitchen, and is confused by what she is witnessing, but she doesn't say anything, as Marie signals her to not say anything. Regardless, Eddy and Lee go into the typical room of the sisters, and the latter closes the door once they are both inside.

Since that is done, and went well, VERY surprisingly, Marie opens the door, and tells Chris. "They are upstairs now. You're good to come in."

With that, Chris enters the trailer, which to him, feels strange entering, as every time he has come here, something insanely ridiculous occurs. As is demonstrated by the last three times he was here. Anyways, he decides to sit down on the couch, anticipating the results of the whole thing, as... it is unpredictable beyond unpredictable.

Are we ALWAYS on the edge?? Jeez man!


	45. Chapter 45: Don’t Tread On Me

Chapter 45: Don't Tread On Me

Well, would you believe this? Me neither. Eddy, currently, has no idea how to feel. Of course, he doesn't exactly feel... secure about this whole operation, but at the same time, he never expected to feel secure in the first place, so complaining was not exactly justified here.

Lee sits down on the bed, inviting Eddy. He, reluctantly, accepts this, and so, he begins to speak.

"How's um... everything?"

"Fine." Lee said, in a similar low tone. "You?"

"More or less. I mean, me and the boys did that performance, and it was awesome."

Lee's feelings towards that performance are... all over the place, so to say. On one hand, yes, she congratulates Eddy and his fellow lads for doing that, as it's not everyday of the week that you see someone performing a full song, start-to-finish. On the other hand, she is VERY much... filled with jealousy, about what Eddy did in the middle of the performance. I'm pretty sure it's easy to see why.

Moving onwards, Lee tells Eddy, "Cool."

"_Yeah, something isn't right. Have to ask. Now." _Eddy tells himself, before asking Lee, "What's going on?"

Lee only stared at Eddy, awaiting an explanation from the latter. And an explanation, he gives.

"Listen, something is up man! Like, am I wrong for saying that? Because, look! You've been beyond distant since the incident at school, and quite frankly, it's getting strange to me."

"None of your business." Lee stated in a harsh tone. Eddy, however, isn't having it. He raises his voice, and says in a louder tone (though not THAT loud).

"Look! You may think that, but I'm not going to give up. You can't seriously tell me you're upset STILL about THEM! Listen to me, leave them be. You are never going to separate them, you will never change their minds about one another, get that?"

Lee seemed unfazed. Admittedly, Eddy's fear was completely gone. He just went on the more aggressive side, which... might or might not bite back. But he takes it a step further. He decides to snap his fingers in front of her, but this is ineffective. So, lacking other options, he gets in front of her, getting down on a knee, before Eddy, in a more neutral tone, says...

"Can't you see how this stuff is just a waste of time? Like, what's the point of continuing this? Tell me, huh?"

Lee finally answers, stating, "I bet your friend doesn't even actually love her!"

Eddy only laughed at that statement, before he fired back, "You either don't pay attention or live somewhere else, because he actually does. And, so does she, so what point were you... wait a minute... are you... jealous?"

Lee only groaned at that statement, getting annoyed with Eddy. But that doesn't stop him though, as he states, "That's it, isn't it?"

He, "stares", into Lee's eyes, waiting for a response. Based on how she is acting after he brought that up... Eddy believes he has "cracked the egg", so to say, but he can only confirm once he comes clean with it. But, little does he know that her coming clean with this is something he is going to need patience for... a lot of it.

The two of them sit in dead silence, with Eddy taking his spot next to Lee again, still waiting for her response. It's been a whole minute, and while waiting, Eddy takes the time to sit in his thoughts for a bit.

"_Perhaps I was a bit TOO direct... crap! Even then, she's like that too?! At least I haven't had to get Chris here. Hope I don't. What is he even doing downstairs- FOCUS! Can't think of other things, especially not right now. Should I perhaps say sorry?"_

To his sudden surprise, Lee actually speaks, asking him, "Is your friend here?"

"Why do you ask?" Eddy responds.

"I saw him coming with you. I was downstairs, saw you two, and I thought you were going somewhere that wasn't here. Hmm." Lee explained to Eddy.

"...yeah, he is here, but ignore him for now." Eddy tells her. "Are you not gonna answer?"

Lee sighs, before... "Okay, listen. Did you really expect this whole news of those two to be normal? Like, I honestly thought it was some stupid prank of yours, or something, and Marie was too stupid to see through it. When I heard that she and him were a thing, thanks to Ed, I couldn't even believe it. She had fallen off hard, I thought."

"I'm sorry, wait!" Eddy said, pausing Lee. "You thought, DOUBLE D, of all people, would do a prank like that? He would quit before it even started! Are you kidding me!?"

"How would I know? You boys aren't very honest and stuff, now are ya?" Lee fires back at him.

Eddy only laughed a bit at that, finding that statement ridiculous. "Alright, MAYBE me, but Double D?! He doesn't even lie about the most tiny things in this world! You're telling me you expected HIM to lie about love?!"

The two of them go back and forth for QUITE a while, which seemed to be a stalemate situation, as Eddy would counter Lee's counter, and vice versa.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Chris is listening to some music on his phone, hoping that Eddy isn't causing trouble for himself intentionally, because he would, again, like to not cause trouble, especially in this instance. Besides, in his mind, he has done enough. It's all up to Eddy now, not him at all.

He gets interrupted with his music by Marie, who waves her hand in front of him, and takes a seat next to him. Curious yet confused, he says, "Yeah? What's up?"

"Nothing. How are the boys and yourself doing?" Marie asked him.

"Well..." Chris, beginning to explain, says. "Let's see. Ed is fine really, he's just his normal goofy self. Double D, who I'm sure you're most curious about, is doing good too. Eddy is good aswell, but I have no exact idea what motivates him to do this. Hope it goes well for him. And lastly, I'm okay."

Marie chuckles a bit before saying, "Good. Oh yeah, speaking of fellow friends... what did you do with Skylar when you two went together after school? Hmm...?"

"_You've gotta be kidding me..." _ An annoyed Chris said in his mind, before telling her, "Funny, Eddy asked the same thing, and I will say the same thing. We talked for a bit, went to our cars, and that's it."

Marie laughed in front of his face, saying after, "Is that all?"

"Yes. Why do you ask anyways?"

"Because, I hear a certain someone asked her to the party coming up. Am I right or wrong?" Marie states.

"_Why did she have to tell her... why!? Fine... Jesus." _Again, an annoyed Chris says in his mind, before speaking out, saying, "Yes, okay? I asked her, and she said yes, so.. I guess we are going together there?"

"Ha! She told me that you didn't even fully ask her! She cut you off and just said yes, didn't she?"

"...yeah. I was surprised. But I guess I can't complain so, yeah." Chris stated, not exactly knowing what to say.

May joins in on the conversation, saying, in a surprised tone, "Wait, you're on a date with Skylar?"

"Not... exactly?" Chris responds. "It's more of a hangout with a good friend. Look, I guess you two want to bait an answer out of me, so here you go. Yes, Skylar is a very beautiful girl, yes I... kinda of like her in a way, and yes, I would have a more closer relationship. BUT, that takes time, and I would rather not rush it. Trust me, it's much easier if both of the people in the relationship are on the same note, whatever that note might be."

Marie chuckles, before saying, "I knew it. We won't tell her, so don't worry. Or tell anyone, for that matter. By the way, that performance was cool, thanks for taking the heat from me and Double D."

"No need, I took the chance to help two friends, you and him, and I successfully did just that. Plus, had fun performing too, and this party will take away even MORE heat away, so you two will be fine, hopefully at least." Chris tells Marie.

May then asks him a question, saying, "Can we bring anything to it?"

"Whatever you can." Chris stated. "Food, drinks, it all counts at the end of the day. Speaking of counting... I hope that Eddy is making, whatever he is doing right now with Lee, count, because this will be a waste of time if it is all for nothing."

That's a good statement, what is Eddy doing exactly? Well... he and Lee are still going back and forth on the previous argument that they had earlier. At this point, Eddy knows that he's just hit another stalemate, and he has to conclude this, because this is on a road to nowhere. So, he raises his voice to be VERY overpowering, and says, "LISTEN! DOUBLE D WOULD NOT DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT! STOP ACCUSING HIM OF SOMETHING SO STUPID!"

"But lis-"

"ZIP IT!"

...yeah, Eddy isn't having it. Although he may not show it, he is slightly concerned as to what exactly will be the reaction of Lee, because of this attitude can only go so far before she reacts in a way that could be very disastrous, but he had to end this nonsense, as he is not going anywhere with this conversation.

"You know what?" Lee said. "Fine, if you said so. But if he betrays Marie... you are going to pay."

Eddy only smirked a bit, as, seriously, he has zero reason to be worried about Double D pulling something stupid like that. "Oh, I'm sure."

"So..." Lee begins to talk again. "...what's your actual reason for coming here?"

"What?! I already told you why!" a confused Eddy stated.

Where is this going now?! Because, Lee laughs at Eddy a bit, before she says, "Are you trying to get me to say or do something for you?"

Eddy shrugged before saying, "NO! That's not-"

Lee grins a little bit at him, which practically shocks Eddy, as, now he's just a mix of confused and concerned, because he has zero idea where this could be even going. Oh, but grinning isn't the only thing Lee does. She then puts her hand on Eddy's shoulder, which... now makes him 100% certain as to where she is intending to go. But while sure, deep down, he's all for it... right now isn't the time.

"Not now, alright?" Eddy said, gently removing her hand from his shoulder. "But now that you mention that kind of stuff... do you... well..."

"Yeah...?" Lee responds, waiting for his statement, or question, or whatever it might be.

In what seems like in a sudden boost of confidence, Eddy states calmly, "Listen to me, I want you to join me and the rest of the guys to the party. I'll vouch for you, don't worry, but I would like you to come over, so that you can clear up this... I have no idea what you call it, reputation that you and your sisters have."

"It's called 'Black Sheep' smart one. But hmm... can't say I expected this from you. Do you really wish for me to go?" Lee said.

"_That's stupid to ask, but whatever!" _Eddy shrugs off the question and simply says, "Yes, will you?"

Lee laughs at him a bit, confusing him, but then she says, "Alright tough guy, sure. You better not be late, or you're gonna pay!"

Obviously she is joking when she says that, but Eddy is used to that being... not a joke, to say the least. Regardless, he gives her two thumbs up, before he decides to conclude the conversation, by saying, "We can talk some more at the party, but uh... yeah. See ya."

"Sure. Oh yeah, and Eddy?"

He pauses getting up, and looks at her, and... it's the most unrealistic thing that's ever occurred to him. What is it? It's a brief kiss directly on the lips, and Eddy couldn't even register that... a kiss between him and someone he always hated in past, just happened like that. But at the same time, is he complaining? Nope! Hahaha!

"Thanks, but yeah, take care will ya?"

And with that, Eddy leaves the room, and goes downstairs, and to his fair surprise, he sees that Chris is currently having a discussion with Marie, while May is currently finishing up the last few chores she has to do. May was participating in the conversation, but she decided to continue the chores she was originally doing, so that explains why isn't talking to him anymore. But at the moment, Chris and Marie are simply having discussions about music, and the former is trying to teach the latter about some more heavier and faster stuff.

"Man... how can you get used to this..." Marie said, surprised.

Jokingly, Chris fires back, "Please, I listened to this when I was 12. Don't you mock me!"

Eddy interrupts the conversation, saying, "I'm back. You ready to go man?"

"Sure. Marie and May! I'll see you two tomorrow! Cheers!" Chris tells the two sisters.

Marie and May wave and say bye to the two boys, and so, they leave the trailer. Chris is rather surprised at the outcome, but trust me, he IS NOT complaining about that, as anytime that he can back off from the ridiculousness, he is thankful for.

"So, what occurred? Everything ok?" Chris asks Eddy.

Eddy begins to explain, "Yeah, everything went better than I expected, if you can even believe that. By the way, she is going to the party with us tomorrow."

"Really?" A surprised Chris says. "Okay, let's hope nothing happens."

"I'm sure nothing bad will happen. Plus, I hope that I've convinced her that the whole thing between Double D and Marie is normal, and that it's not a stupid scam or something? Can you believe that?! Double D scamming by himself?! Even to a guy like me, that's too ridiculous. I have no clue where she could've picked that up, but I hope that she isn't thinking that anymore. Anyways, for what else happened, she actually... uhh..."

Eddy paused, kinda reluctant to admit what occurred. But Chris already, in an indirect way, knows. "You two kissed didn't you?"

"What?! How did you know?" Eddy asked, majorly confused.

Chris laughs while facepalming a bit, saying, "Dude, I know that that's the ONLY thing you would be slightly embarrassed to admit! But regardless, that's unexpected! Wow. Seems like luck is with you man."

"I don't know, you think? We can only see once tomorrow arrives and the party begins. Speaking of the party, you wanna start getting the snacks ready now? It would be better for time." Eddy tells him.

"Sure." Chris responds. "Let's get it done sooner, Kevin will thanks us for it. We can continue the talk while doing so aswell."

And so, the first place that the two lads decide to start their plan is Chris's house, since that's where the first batch of snacks is at.

That went quite well! Wouldn't you say?

_Author's note: Hi there, sorry for the longer delay with this one, as I had to get the dialogue and everything down good. I'll try not to take THIS long with chapter 46, but I can't promise that! Hahaha! Catch you in the next one!_


	46. Chapter 46: Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

Chapter 46: Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

Not sure where the cheap part comes from...

Picking up where we left off, Chris and Eddy arrive to the former's house to get the snacks and drinks for the party. While there, Eddy notices that Chris REALLY scored, as he would put it, because he found a good amount of chips for the guests to have. Sure, the chips were the size of your palms basically, but keep in mind, there's a LOT of them, like... 100. Although, it wouldn't surprise Chris if they were burnt through like a knife through butter. Ridiculous predictions aside, Eddy takes a look at the other stuff Chris got, and it seems he brought a pack of 35 half-small/medium cans.

"You want some help carrying this stuff man? This is so much!" Eddy asked Chris.

"Sure." Chris responds. "Besides, when I told mom about if I could get this stuff, she told me to get someone to help me with this, so... check! Haha!"

The two share a chuckle, before Eddy asks Chris, "What's with those other three bigger bags of chips? Those yours?"

Chris explains, "Yep. The rest are all for the party. There's also another pack of sodas inside the house, but it's for the family, so yeah."

Chris had already got everything out of his mom's car (with her assistance with the heavier stuff), since he did that before going to Eddy's. Since he is done, and not much is left to do, he decides that they should bring the stuff to Kevin's home.

"Let's get this to Kevin's, we got it all ready to go anyways. You ready to carry one box of chips? I'll carry the other."

Eddy says, "Sure, here we go."

The boxes weren't heavy at all, they were more... complicated, as keep in mind, there are 50 small bags inside for each one, so the box has to be quite wide. Regardless of that minor inconvenience, the two of them get to the house, and lucky for them, Kevin is home, simply watching TV. Eddy hits the doorbell, and then Kevin runs to the door, and sees the two of them in front, to his surprise.

"Sup you two?" Kevin tells them. "Come on in, leave the chips in the kitchen."

Chris tells Kevin, as he leaves his box of chips on the kitchen table, "Eddy, do you want to get the sodas? Or shall I?"

"Nah, I can get them, stay here. I'll be back in a few!" Eddy yells out, before placing his box on the tables and running to get the sodas.

Chris checks and sees that all the chips are in good order, and all set for tomorrow. Kevin asks him, "Yo dude, you got a quick minute to talk?"

"Sure. What's up?"

Chris enters the living room, where Kevin was watching TV, and the latter asks the former, "Hey, is it true?"

"What?"

"The whole thing between Double D and Marie." Kevin states.

Chris rolls his eyes, before he explains, "Yeah. And I'll tell you right now, it's not a joke, it's not something where Marie is holding Double D hostage, it's all legit. Heck, I even saw the whole getting together thing happen."

"Wow." Kevin responded. "I'm beyond surprised! Double D grew one it seems! But I'm glad for him, I guess."

"Don't worry, he's gotten into the whole a lot, and I can tell." Chris responds.

This conversation was cut short, because Eddy rings the bell again, as he has returned with the drinks. Chris quickly tells Kevin, "We can talk about this later, alright?"

"Sure."

Chris gets the door, and Eddy comes in and quickly puts the sodas in the kitchen. The latter then says, "Whatcha guys talking about?"

The other two stare at each other for a second, before Chris speaks, "Just keep this down okay? Kevin and I were talking about Double D and Marie's little relationship. He simply asked me if it was real, and, as you and I both know, it is, so that's what I told him."

"Yeah Kev, it's true. Wait until you hear what Marie dragged him into one time." Eddy said while laughing.

Is it REALLY that hard to guess what Eddy was referring to? Well, simply put, he was talking about the first ACTUAL date Double D and Marie, and how they went and did... "the stuff" somewhat. You're smart enough to know what that means, you dount. Anyways, when Kevin heard this, he couldn't resist laughing, and so did the other two. Kevin personally couldn't even register that DOUBLE D of all people, would go that route.

"Man... did HE start it or was it his woman?" Kevin said, composing himself a bit.

Eddy responds, "It was a trap Marie set, so... I guess her? You should've seen his face!"

"Yeah!" Chris said, chuckling slightly. "That dude got into it completely. He seemed to enjoy it too!"

Another burst of laughter came from that comment, but after a couple of minutes, all three of them calmed down a bit, because if they kept laughing, I'm afraid of a possible issue of someone throwing up due to laughter.

"Relax, Narrator, we are fine." Chris comments. Well... that's reassuring I guess.

Kevin then brings up, "So, what do you guys have planned for the party for any possible ladies?"

Eddy figures it was best that he answer first, as for Chris, it's more or less obvious. He figured however, that it's best to cover this up for now, so he answers, "I've actually got someone. It's a surprise, get ready for it."

"Alright then dork." Kevin jokingly says. "Chris?"

"Well, I tried asking Skylar to the party, and she cut me off INSTANTLY, and said yes. Literally didn't even think about it, just said yes. I was shocked dude, but it seems we are going together. I don't expect her to be on time, considering she isn't in our EXACT area, but it's fine. So, with all that considered, I suppose it's sort of a date, but I won't fully call it that." Chris explained.

Kevin claps a little for him, saying, "You got lucky man! Be sure not to waste it, because it's free game to make fun of you!"

Obviously Kevin is joking, and Chris knows that, so he simply rolls his eyes while chuckling a bit, then saying, "I'll keep that in mind."

Chris then follows up with, "So, is there anything else we should know before the party tomorrow man?"

"Nah." Kevin said. "We got the snacks and everything. I have the other stuff in the garage, but it can wait I think. I think I just have to prepare my clothes, Nazz would make a fuss if I don't."

The other two a little laugh, before Eddy says, "We should do the same, right Chris?"

"Sure. Kevin, we will catch ya later, alright? We gotta get our stuff ready as well. Take care brother!"

Kevin tells the two, "Yeah! See y'all!"

And so, the two lads leave Kevin's house, before Chris asks Eddy, "You wanna start getting your attire ready?"

"Sure. Can I be honest with you?" Eddy tells Chris.

Chris nods his head to say yes, and as the two walk to Eddy's home, Eddy explains, "I hope that Lee didn't take the whole rough attitude thing I did too harshly. You weren't there, so you're not gonna understand, but man... it was a rush! But it was... a little overdone? It was so annoying to try to get to her, as I just had to be excessive, but i think it worked."

"Let's hope that you're correct man, but be careful next time. Because, the attitude of getting in... anyone's face really, has its limits, and I'd recommend not pushing it." Chris responds.

"Yeah." Eddy states. "But again, getting to her felt almost impossible! It seemed she listened towards the end however, so, it's all good."

Chris then says, "I hope this time, it isn't your overconfidence speaking, and it's actual reality speaking. But let's move along now, we gotta get you prepared with SOMETHING THAT MAKES SENSE! Still can't believe you thought that stupid seventies like attire was going to work. Good thing you didn't wear that at the performance, because if you did, I would've been so mad dude, hahaha."

"Look, you're right alright?" Eddy said, laughing a bit. "I'll save that for other times when it's not embarrassing, okay? Maybe at the beach?"

"I doubt that's even good for that, haha! Eddy, while I honestly don't have all that much of an issue with it, these days... that is just asking for you to get mocked, made fun of, and all of that. Wear what you want, as long as it's reasonable, and not stupid, that's my opinion. Then again, that's being said by someone who wears shirts about heavy metal bands, so yeah, hahaha!" Chris explained to Eddy.

Eddy simply states, "I guess you're right, eh?"

With that, the lads have made it to the house of Eddy. Admittedly, Eddy himself has an idea of what he could wear that would be good for him, and good for the party. Obviously the whole 70s look didn't work, so he thought of perhaps wearing something similar to what he wore to the performance.

To test this, he tells Chris to wait in the living room, while he goes and tries this idea out. Chris agreed, and so he goes and tries to fit this. Eddy manages to fit on a normal black shirt, with a grey thin jacket on top, and for his leg wear... he decides to pick out a more navy blue set of jeans, that fit perfectly, and for his shoes, he decides to go with some normal white shoes. In Eddy's mind, he believe that THIS is going to be a better improvement over last time, if nothing else at least.

Chris notices Eddy has finished up, and says, "Whoo! That's what I'm talking about dude! You nailed it!"

Eddy says, "Thanks. This looks more normal and modern right?"

"Yep. Of course, you should save it for when it's time for the event, because then you can do all the stuff you need to do beforehand, like shower, brush your teeth, and many other things that you might wanna do." Chris tells him.

Eddy thinks about it, and Chris is completely correct. Either way you spin the dice, the former is glad to at least have something that he won't be provoked about, making his situation more simple. Anyways, after Eddy gets redressed in his usual wear, he asks Chris, "So, what's next to do? Should we ask the others what they are planning to bring?"

"Honestly, I don't think so. Because, Double D will most likely bring some healthy foods, knowing him, and I'm calling it right now, barely anyone will eat it, and he will complain about it for a whole hour." Chris sarcastically remarks, making Eddy laugh.

Eddy then says, "For Ed, he's surely gonna bring his disgusting gravy. He once filled a whole pool with that."

When Chris heard that, he could've sworn that he misheard completely, but... NOPE!

"You are joking, right?"

"Did I not tell you??" Eddy asked, before... "Let me explain, he brought it to a swimming class we all had, and for some reason, I don't even want to know, he thought that it was smart to bring his box of the mix... INTO THE POOL WHILE HE WAS DIVING! He 'contaminated' the pool, as Double D put it."

Chris could only burst into laughter, finding what Eddy said too unbelievable. "Wow! How did no one stop him from doing that? Jeez, you guys need to react soon. Goodness... that's embarrassing."

"Tell me about it. This actually also leads into a whole other story. The one where we all decided to do a bet." Eddy tells Chris, who then becomes curious.

The story that Eddy told Chris this time was about the time where him, the other Eds, and the other kids (minus Sarah, Jimmy and Nazz) did a whole bet where they couldn't do a certain thing. For example, Ed couldn't eat gravy, Kevin couldn't say dork, and Eddy couldn't raise his voice to the point where the entire earth would shake. Anyways, Eddy explains how everyone basically lost their bet, and then told Chris of the surprising fact that Ed won the bet, getting himself 1 dollar and 25 cents. Although, in the process, unfortunately Ed's whole body had a bad reaction to the butter scotch pudding that he jumped into, thinking it was gravy. Regardless of that circumstance, he still earned the cash, fair and square. Once Eddy finished telling the story, Chris comments...

"That's completely ridiculous. Wow. Even then, it's just a dollar and twenty-five, so whatever really, no?"

"Perhaps..." Eddy states, "...but come on! I could've gotten jawbreakers and more with that!"

Chris only chuckles at that ridiculous statement, before he then tells Eddy, "Alright, it's been fun and all, but I gotta start getting prepared myself, plus there's some other stuff I gotta do myself."

"Sure. I'll catch ya later man! Make sure you make yourself look good!" Eddy tells Chris as he is leaving.

Chris yells back, "Don't worry man! Later!"

With that, the two lads call it for now, and Chris heads back to his house, as he decides to take a break for a bit by doing none other than play some racing games. After all, he has nearly completed a specific one, and he is dedicated to completing it as soon as possible.

Question, uh... what deeds were done cheap exactly? Because I didn't notice any...????


	47. Chapter 47: Under The Sun

Chapter 47: Under The Sun

On the same day, at around 6:30 PM, everyone seems to have gotten their plans for the party all set up. Although, not EVERYTHING is perfect, now is it? Because, at that same time, Chris gets a phone call from somebody, and he goes to see who it is exactly, and it's Double D!

"Hey Double D, what's going on dude?"

Double D answers over the phone, "Greetings Chris, I think we need to have a discussion about that potion that we made that one time."

"Really?" Chris said, becoming curious. "What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing is negative with it exactly, we just need to make sure we have a plan for it, as leaving it in the fridge for so long cannot be a long term decision in my view." Double D explains.

Although Chris has tried the thing, and nothing is wrong with it exactly, Double D has a point. So, to solve this minor inconvenience, Chris tells him, "Ok, I'm going to come over and pick it up, I'll drink it first thing in the morning. There's not even that much left man!"

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Double D asks, slightly concerned.

Chris only laughs and says, "Calm down, I got this thing under control. I'm coming over right now, one second..."

Chris hangs up and gets his shoes set, and go to Double D's to get the potion. When he gets there, he knocks, and Double D quickly comes over to get the door open. He greets Chris, and says to him, "The potion is at the kitchen."

"Cool." Chris responds. "So, you ready for everything tomorrow?"

"Yes, I have organized everything for tomorrow. I am not certain however, as to Marie's decisions for tomorrow. We haven't discussed it yet." Double D tells him.

"_That's pretty surprising, ain't it?" _Chris comments in his head, before saying out loud, "Hopefully you and her manage to figure it out, but I'm sure it won't be much of an issue. As for myself, I'm all set. It's all up to Skylar now really, but I'm positive she's going to be fine. Anyways, I don't wanna be here more than necessary, so I shall leave you to your duty my friend."

And with that, right before Chris leaves the door, Double D tells him, "Alright then, take care, and be sure to act professionally and treat her with respect!"

Chris gives him a thumbs up, before saying in his mind, "_Shouldn't that second part be obvious? Also, his definition of professional, can't even imagine it. Hahaha!"_

With that taken care of, he heads back home, and stores the potion in the fridge, so that it's cool when he drinks it first thing tomorrow morning. For the record, there's only around 40% of the bottle left, which Chris was surprised to see, but he assumed that Double D must used it to mess around some more perhaps? That was the only logical conclusion anyways, so he stuck with it.

Anyways, in Double D's house, Double D himself was simple occupying himself with his chores, as he had plenty of them to do, and he holds himself to completing them, so, he does them. Even then, they were your basic everyday chores, take out the trash, do the laundry, clean up some parts of the house, you get the idea?

Double D manages to finish all of these at about 7:50 PM, leaving with sometime to rest, or perhaps work on an experiment, or take a look at some stuff from school? Well, he might have to pause thinking about that, because he hears another ring of the doorbell. Who could that be this time?

To the beanie-wearing Ed's surprise, it's Marie! Although, Double D is more surprised at the fact that Marie didn't do something ridiculous to tell him that she was here at his house. So, this was refreshing to him.

"Greetings Marie, how is everything?" Double D tells her at the door.

Marie responds, with a smile, "Good. How've you been?"

She then enters the house, and Double D closes and locks the door. Marie then proceeds to take a seat on the couch in the living room, and Double D takes a seat next to her.

"All is well. Everyone seems to have planned for the party tomorrow, and I have everything all organized in an orderly fashion. Nazz insisted in the most fancy attire, so I got what I could." Double D tells her.

"Well..." said Marie, adopting a teasing tone. "...you better be looking to impressing only one person!"

Obviously Marie was referring to (shocker) herself, but Double D simply laughed a bit to her tease, which amused Marie slightly. Double D's response?

"Rest assured Marie, I shall try my best to impress."

The two of them shared a laugh, before Marie continues, saying, "So, you've got your outfit ready? Mind showing me?"

Usually, Double D wouldn't mind telling Marie something as trivial as that, but he decides to keep it a surprise, because he wants to try an experiment of trying to do something like that with her, seeing as Marie always loves to do it on him.

"If it's not an inconvenience, Marie, I would like to save it for the party. After all, I would prefer to keep it in mint condition, and all ready for the party tomorrow." said Double D, trying to keep it a secret.

Marie only chuckles at him, finding his attempt to keep a secret funny. But, she says, "Sure cutie, but remember what I said!"

After a quick chuckle, Double D asks Marie, "Out of curiosity Marie, what have your sisters planned for the party?"

"For May, she's just going to dress in a more fashion type of way, it's nothing special. I'm sure she's excited that Ed invited her. Can you believe that? But I guess everyone grows a pair, and Ed ain't a exception." Marie explains to Double D, before continuing, "But enough about May, because guess what?"

Double D raises an eyebrow, out of curiosity. Marie tells him, "Two of your friends came over for a chat. Chris and Eddy I should say."

"What business did they have there?" asked Double D, with a slight hint of concern.

Marie explains, "Eddy wanted to talk to Lee about things, and as for Chris, I guess Eddy just brought him along for some backup? My goodness, is Eddy THAT scared of Lee? I couldn't even believe that he really brought him along, it's embarrassing. But lucky for Eddy, he didn't cause any issues, otherwise, god knows if he would've even left!"

The only thing Double D could think about was simply... why? Why on planet earth did Eddy go do that? Was there a secret reason? Oh, if only Double D knew. Then again, he decides that he is going to ask Eddy about that tomorrow when they all walk to school. But it's confirmed something for Double D, which is Eddy has DEFINITELY stopped fearing Lee a lot less as time went on, from the incident where Eddy told her and her sisters away from Double D himself, the situation in chapter 33, and... while he doesn't know EXACTLY what happened, he can only assume that it was similar to the previous example, so... overall, Double D feel confident in concluding it that way.

"Hmm... while it doesn't much sense why Eddy decided to go talk to Lee, I must ask Marie, did Chris cause any trouble?" Double D asks.

"No! I just told you, Eddy didn't cause issues, so why would Chris cause trouble?" said Marie in an exaggerated tone.

You know that moment when you realize something that you should've realized before? Yeah, that's Double D right now.

"My apologies Marie! I should've been assessed the situation more, that was all my fault, sorry." apologized Double D, which only made Marie rolls her eyes at his ridiculous reaction.

"Relax cutie, it's fine! Jeez, you're so dramatic! But I like that about ya. Anyway, yeah, everything was fine, so you can relax. Though, I did plan an idea." Marie tells him.

Double D couldn't help his curiosity. "What's your plan?"

"So, you know how the party starts at like 6:30?" Marie states. "Well, I asked Lee, May and Skylar if they wanted to all gather together at the trailer after school, so that we could help each other with getting ready. I'm surprised Skylar accepted, expected her to go off alone, but she's welcome. I'm sure May will accept her, but I hope Lee doesn't bother her much. She hasn't yet, which is good."

"As long as everyone gets along, I am positive that everything will go according to plan. That is very nice Marie by the way, I'm pleased you're inviting Skylar to some activities." Double D comments.

Marie simply says, "I figured why not?"

"When exactly did you ask this however? I didn't see you ask her this today during school." Double D asks.

"It was during our last class today, you just were busy, and so was Chris. I didn't expect you to notice." said Marie, very straightforward.

Well, that explains it! However it happened, it doesn't exactly matter THAT much to Double D, as he appreciates such gestures, and he is proud of Marie for doing as such. Although, Double D then says...

"Onto another topic, Marie, there's a question I must ask you."

Marie looks at him with a face that says "What is it?", and Double D responds, "I've wanted to ask more about this before, but unfortunately many complications have occurred that have delayed me from asking you this. You are always welcome to not talk about this, I will respect your privacy. But... you once mentioned that you never knew much about your father, correct? I've been meaning to ask, what exactly do you know?"

Admittedly, Double D felt like he was taking a risk asking that question. Because, it's only so rare that a person actually tells you parts of their life that they are sensitive towards. But, to his relief, Marie takes a deep breath, before stating, "I honestly only recall one specific incident. He and mom kept bickering back and forth about an argument, which I assume was about their breakup, as after that, I never saw him again. Mom had screamed at him, telling him to back off, and a whole bunch of crap, but... dad wasn't having it. All three of us were trying to avoid the argument by hiding upstairs, so we couldn't hear them, but I'm pretty sure dad told mom something like... 'you can take of them alone then! Be that way!'"

After taking a quick second, Marie continues, "So, after dad said that, he slammed the door, and I never saw him once after that. All I can say is, if he couldn't work something out with mom, and have a talk about things... forget him. I don't want to even see him, because it seemed like he caused trouble for mom. But the thing is, I just don't know if it was either him or mom, as she never talks about dad. Then again, did I really expect anything? Mom doesn't even talk to May and Lee about their fathers!"

Clearly Marie is getting frustrated and slightly sad, so Double D, in a quick second, hugs her tightly, while she exhales deeply. Double D's shock is quite hard to imagine right now, because while he did expect it to be a bit of a story, he wasn't expecting that, per se. Either way you spin it, that doesn't matter, because all Double D wants to do now is comfort Marie, not ask anymore questions.

After around 5 or so minutes of the two sitting in slience, Double D says, "I'm deeply sorry for that Marie."

"It's okay. It's just because I don't know him, and I've never seen him since then, how should I think about him? I can only hope that he's not being stupid, but if he is... so be it." said Marie, with a chill of anger.

"Marie, pardon me for asking, but..." Double D paused, before asking her, "...if you were to ever meet him again, would you allow him another chance?"

"The problem isn't if I want to Double D. It's because... okay, fine, I'll give him another chance, but will MOM do that? I doubt it, as they ended their little thing on the worst note possible. Heck, I'm not even sure if he's even near us anymore, so... I'm not sure if it even matters." Marie explains.

At this point, Double D feels like he's hit a roadblock, because when it comes down to family issues that aren't his own, he feels nearly powerless. So, he decides to tell Marie...

"Marie, if hypothetically, this situation ever arises, I shall try to assist to the best of my abilities."

At that point, Marie looks up to Double D, smiling, which in return makes him smile too, and they end up sharing a 20 second kiss.

After a couple minutes, Marie asks Double D, "So... are you sure you're all set for tomorrow?"

"Of course, don't worry Marie, I promise no complications will arise. Rest assured, everything will go according to plan." said Double D.

Marie smiles a bit at that statement, before telling Double D, "Okay, I would love to stay some more, but I'd rather get home earlier to sleep for tomorrow honestly."

"Same here Marie. Please take care of yourself!" Double D tells her.

"I will. Love you, and take care."

And with that, Marie shares a hug with Double D, before getting up, and leaving through the door.

Admittedly, while Double D always appreciates Marie's company these days, tonight was just... so different for both him and her, that to him, it felt like it was going really quick. Nevertheless, he didn't complain, as that would make him look insensitive, plus, it wouldn't have been the right time.

Double D decided that he should take this time to get some early rest, as he had nothing to do, and his mind was too busy thinking about the story Marie had told him, along with other details. He goes upstairs into his room, changes into his pajamas, sets the alarm to the standard time of 7 AM, and goes to sleep at a pretty decent time.

Wow... what a trip. Man...


	48. Chapter 48: Dazed And Confused

Chapter 48: Dazed And Confused

The next day...

And here we, go!

So, it's a huge day today, isn't it? Well, let's check to see who's doing what!

Well, Chris is already up, because he fell asleep around 9 PM, but accidentally woke up 30 minutes earlier than intended, specifically, waking up at 6:30 AM. While that annoyed him slightly, he decided to ignore that, besides... he gets some time to play games, and start his morning routines early. Granted, it ultimately helps him out in the end, as he is left with a total of an extra 30 minutes before school starts. After sometime, he decides to head downstairs to make his breakfast for today, deciding to want to eat.

When he goes to the fridge to pick up the things for a sandwich, he notices the "potion" that he got from Double D.

"Oh, right. You. You know what? I might aswell drink the whole thing, I mean, what's the worst that can happen? Besides, what could even happen? Plus, the more I wait, the worse this thing gets right?"

Chris grabs the drink and before he pours it onto a cup, he first finishes his sandwich that he planned to make for his breakfast meal, and once he finishes that, he goes over to the table, and starts eating his breakfast. He had to fill the cup twice, as there was plenty of the potion to go. Plus, to his benefit, it tasted pretty good, so that helped out a bit. After around 10 minutes, Chris finishes up, and since he notices that decides to just watch some funny videos to kill a little bit more time before school ACTUALLY starts.

Onto the next persona...

Ed surprisingly woke up at around 7:10 AM, doing his routine of dressing up... and that's it. Although he doesn't know it yet, Double D has already planned for Ed to get washed before the party, because... can it get more obvious? Hahaha. Moving onward, Ed, in what seems like 45 seconds, makes his cereal incredibly quickly. That doesn't go without leaving a slight mess however, but he isn't exactly paying attention to that at the moment, as he is trying to find a spoon for his cereal. Once he has found it, Ed takes a napkin, and wipes down the bits of milk that spilled due to his rapid pace of putting the milk in.

Anyways, Ed eats his cereal for around 5 minutes, after which he decides to head to Eddy's house, not having anything else to do. Of course, he still remembers about the party, and how May is going to be accompanying him to said party, but either way, he has everything under control.

Might aswell move onto Eddy!

Eddy woke up around 20 minutes late than his alarm was set to. He meant to wake up at 7:00, but since he overslept, he now woke up around 7:20. That only slightly annoys him, but he simply shrugs it off, as he has something a LOT more important to think about. Well, first, he ignores Ed knocking on his backyard door, but that's not the main thing that concerns him. What IS concerning him is the idea of going to a party with Lee. That was something that if someone brought the idea of back then, he would've gotten quite mad, and rightfully so, considering the context behind the history between the two. However... now it's a whole different story and situation. Theoretically, it shouldn't be a huge issue, as long as no ridiculous public displays of affection, or drama occur, everything should be fine.

Eddy shoves his thoughts about the party aside for now, because he has to rush a bit to get ready for school on time. Normally, he hates doing this, but does he really have a choice? Not really. After getting dressed in his usual attire and brushing his teeth in about 10 minutes, Eddy goes over to where Ed is, telling him, "Quit the knocking already!"

"I'm sorry Eddy, I'm just checking up to see if my best pal is all and well!" Ed said cheerfully.

Eddy groans in annoyance, before saying, "Come on, let's go get sockhead, he's already up I bet."

Is that true?

Yep! Double D wakes up at the EXACT same moment his alarm goes off, to his benefit. He does his usual procedure of: rearranging the bed, taking a shower, pick out his beanie for the day, get into simple attire for the upcoming school day, and checks outside his window for Ed and Eddy. Sure enough, there they are, waiting for him.

"Hey Double D! Let's get all set for school already, it's almost 7:40!" yelled Eddy from below.

Double D stated, "I'll join you fellows in a second, hang on!"

After a couple minutes, Double D joins his other two friends, and Ed brings up, "What about Chris? Is he wide awake?"

"Let's go check. He should be, no way he's going to make us late!"

All three of the Eds go to Chris's house, and they find Chris saying bye to his mom. After he does that, he notices the Eds, and he says, "Howdy. We all ready?"

"Yep! In more ways than one!" Eddy told him, in a cocky way.

As the four lads begin to walk to school, they all figured it was a decent time to talk about the upcoming party. Chris asks Eddy, "So, you've got everything set up for tonight?"

"I told you, in more ways than one!" Eddy responds. "But yeah, I am. How about you? You got everything all ready for your lady?"

"God I hate it when you're like that. But regardless, yeah. I have an outfit all set and ready. Also, before you ask, yes, I'm a bit nervous, but I'm positive it will be fine." Chris explains.

Double D comments, "The optimism, I appreciate it! Ed, have you planned your outfit?"

Ed looked confused. "Outfit?"

The boys stop in their tracks, before Eddy says, "Okay, everyone, remember to give Ed a good cleaning and change once we are done with school. Ed, you can't go into the party stinking like you normally do! You'll drive away everyone, ESPECIALLY May!"

"He's right Ed, we must make sure your personal hygiene is well before the gathering!" Double D added.

Although Ed's hygiene had progressively gotten better... he still had his moments of very bad smells, breath, etc. So, when it comes down to a PARTY, yeah, all bets are off, he had to get it changed up. Ed himself even understood this, smiling at his friends while nodding as to say yes.

After a couple of minutes, the four lads get to school, and go to their lockers, just to revise and check to see if they need anything. Everyone except Double D was ready, he just needed to organize a couple things. While the other three were waiting, Chris asks Eddy...

"You prepared for this? Because something tells me that this might be a bit difficult, wouldn't you say?"

Eddy responds, "Kinda, it's just, I have no idea if she's going to get any ideas. She better not, because I'll be regretting everything I've done! Maybe I just don't understand her, I have no clue!"

"Well..." Chris explains to Eddy, "...you haven't exactly had the most stable of relationships, with her anyways, have you? Just give it a chance okay? You do not need to rush everything, be slow, calm, and collected, alright?"

Eddy gives a thumbs up, afterwards saying, "Fine. I can try."

"Gentlemen, I have everything I need. Unfortunately, this means we must split for our classes. Good luck to the both of you with your companions! Ed, let's proceed to class early so we don't risk being tardy." said Double D to his two friends.

"Alright, see ya later!" Chris responds to the two.

Eddy then states, "Let's go. Can't wait for this day to go by faster."

"Slow down cowboy, let's not be all hasty, haha." Chris tells Eddy.

Eddy and Chris start to head to class, and because they are earlier than normal, not a lot of people are there. Heck, not even Mr. Muta is there yet. So, the two take their normal seats, and simply wait for 5 minutes for some people. Well, some people do arrive. Mr. Muta comes in, and greets everyone who is already here, while he begins to get organized for class. Oddly enough, Muta doesn't have a lot to organize, because he has a practice test for everyone today lined up, so he really only has to revise the questions.

Meanwhile, Chris is bored, so he decides to put on some music to keep himself occupied for a bit. But after around 3 minutes, he is interrupted by someone tapping him on the shoulder. Oh who could that be?

"Sup?" Skylar says to him. Surprise!

"Hey, how are you?" asks Chris.

Skylar takes her seat, and tells him, "More or less, sleep didn't come easy, but I'm fine for the most part. Everything ready by the way?"

"You betcha. Are YOU ready?" said Chris in a joking manner.

"You know it. I'm not spoiling anything, you just have to wait. I hope you'll be happy, as I think you'll like it, but I'm not sure." responded Skylar, in a slightly seductive manner.

"_How many times is she going to talk like this? Jeebus... okay, whatever." _Chris tells himself in his mind, before he says, "I'm sure I will, but hey, I can only speculate... a bit... right?"

Chris notices that Skylar has an extra bag next to her backpack, and he says, "Hey, what's in the bag you got?"

"It's a surprise. Again, I am not spoiling anything, you'll have to wait." responds Skylar.

Chris, rolling his eyes, says, "Okay, sure. There's a lot of surprises, are...n't, th-there?"

Suddenly, Chris feels very light headed, which he doesn't understand why. That's a good question though, why? Skylar takes notice, and she is kinda worried. She puts her hand on his and says, "Hey, you okay? You don't look well."

"I... was... sa-saying... tha-that-"

Chris doesn't finish his sentence, before he seemingly collapses on his side of the desk. Skylar is just worried at this point, because this is all so sudden.

"Hey! Chris! Wake up! Wake up!" said Skylar slightly loudly, with a hint of panic.

No response. Mr. Muta, along with Eddy plus Kevin take notice.

"Skylar, is everything okay? What is wrong with Chris?" Mr. Muta asks.

"I don't know! He seemed to just randomly collapse while we were talking, and I thought maybe he was sleepy, but he... just fell asleep?" said Skylar as a response.

Eddy jumps in, saying, "Hey tough guy! Get up! How is this even happening? He was perfectly fine when we went to school this morning!"

"Are you sure man?" Kevin asks. "That doesn't look perfectly fine to me."

Mr. Muta, while he doesn't understand either, decides to say, "Hmm... okay. Can two of you bring Chris to the office? Maybe he's unconscious? Actually wait, is he breathing?"

Skylar leans in to check, and the answer would be yep. Faintly, but breathing nonetheless.

"Yeah. What do we do?"

Muta says, "Get him to the office, because he cannot be here if he is unconscious, he can either be home to be checked by his parents, or by a nurse. But I'm not deciding that, the principal will. Please hurry, I will wait until you return, but I cannot delay class forever."

"Here, I'll help carry him, I doubt he is very light." Kevin tells the two.

"Okay. You get his right arm, and I'll get his left." said Eddy.

Skylar realizes an issue however, and she says, "Eddy, are you sure? You aren't very tall to be carrying him."

Yeah... that's unfortunately true. Eddy realizes that perhaps she might have a better time than he would, so he decides to let her do it.

"Sure, you do that, I'm gonna bring his stuff in that case."

And so, Kevin and Skylar both manage to get Chris off the desk, and carry him to the office, with Eddy following along. Luckily for them, the office is not far, only a 3 minute walk or so, and they make it without much of a hassle.

When they enter, Mr. Antonucci is confused.

"What might be going on here?"

"Sorry, but something strange occurred with him." Kevin explains, while him and Skylar lay Chris down on a chair.

Antonucci is unconvinced, saying, "Is he fake sleeping?"

"No." Skylar responds. "I've tried to wake him up, and so did they, and nothing. He is still breathing, just very quietly. I think he's just unconscious, but I have no idea as to why it happened. Also, how would he even be fake sleeping?! He is literally not moving an inch!"

"Skylar, please relax, it just seemed odd, I apologize. Okay, I will first try to call his mother to pick him up, but if this fails, an ambulance is likely to be called. You three go to class, thank you for bringing him here."

Eddy leaves Chris's stuff near him, and him plus Kevin are about to leave, but Skylar says, "I'd much rather help him if I can."

"Look, Skylar, you've done enough, I'm positive tha-"

"I AM NOT LEAVING UNTIL I KNOW HE IS SAFE!!"

Skylar said that in a tone that was INSANELY loud, and that, quite frankly, scared Eddy and Kevin. Mr. Antonucci, although slightly disappointed with her tone, understands her desire to want to help. So, he says, "Alright, if you truly insist. Kevin and Eddy, please return to class, me and Skylar will handle this situation. Thank you for your assistance."

"No problem." both Eddy and Kevin stated.

Antonucci tells Skylar, "I can say that he is certainly unconscious from the fact that you yelled loudly, and he didn't even move."

"You still had doubts?!" Skylar asked, annoyed.

"No. I'm just getting that fact out there." Antonucci explains. "But that's enough, I shall call his mom first. Please remain silent okay?"

Meanwhile, while Eddy and Kevin walk back to class, the former says, "What the heck was that?"

"She is more committed than I thought man. I think Chris might've found a good one for himself. But man, I almost jumped out of my skin when she yelled like that!" said Kevin.

"Tell me about it." Eddy responds. "That was louder than me I think! Let's hope he wakes up from this, don't even know why this is happening..."

Before we continue on with this situation, what's occurring with Double D and Ed?

Before their class started, Ed and Double D took notice that the sisters were... already in the class? Ed runs over to May, who has a seat open, and says, "Hello May!"

"Hey Ed! How's it going?" she responds.

"Okay, just got here with my best pals! We are all excited for the party!" responded Ed.

"That's nice! Do you have your outfit ready?" asked May.

This is where Ed runs into a roadblock. Obviously he doesn't have it planned, and he has to rely on his friends to help him out... but technically he does have it ready, he just doesn't know 100% what the outfit will look like. So... does that mean yes technically?

"I have it ready!" responds Ed, in a very quick second.

Never mind then, yes it is!

"That's great! My sisters and I already have ours ready!" said May.

May and Ed continue to discuss the upcoming party, while over with Double D, he is greeted by Marie, who says to him...

"Hey cutie, how are you?"

"Everything is going well thus far, all of the fellows, including myself, have our plans set for the upcoming party. How about you and your sisters?" said Double D to Marie.

Marie responds, "Same state as you, you could say. I ain't showing nothing yet hun, you're just gonna have to wait! Although, I haven't talked to Skylar about if she's ready or not yet, but I'm hoping she is, she promised she would be."

"Not to worry Marie, I'm positive that Skylar will be all set. After all, I doubt she'll be lacking anything in need of completion."

Marie grins at him, before saying, "I'm wondering better yet, what she and Chris are doing at this moment. Not just her, but hopefully your friend is also ready aswell."

"Once more Marie, I'm positive he is ready. Although, I do have a question for you however." Double D stated.

Marie waits for the question, in which Double D asks, in a more quiet tone, "I must ask, are you positive that no drama will occur with anyone there? I know that you three have a... rather notable reputation with causing conflicts with people."

Marie could only scoff at him, before saying, "Well excuse me! To answer you honey, no, me, nor the others will do anything crazy, okay? Besides, I know you don't exactly like that stuff, so calm down!"

Afterwards, Marie laughs a bit, before kissing Double D for a quick second, in which Double D laughs a bit himself, and then saying, "I will trust your word, in that case."

The two give each other thumbs up, before the class officially started.

Back with Skylar, Chris and Mr. Antonucci...

Mr. Antonucci tries to call Chris's mom, while Skylar sits there, next to Chris, who is obviously still unconscious. Skylar is slightly anxious, as she has no idea if his mom will even pick up the phone. She can only hope that's the case, and that an ambulance won't have to be called.

To her luck, Chris's mom answers the call, in which she says, "Hello, this is Maria, who's this?"

"Hi Maria, it's Mr. Antonucci, principal of Peach Creek High. I'm calling because we have a situation that involves your son, Chris."

"What? Did he do something?" Maria asks.

"No, not to worry, your son has not caused any trouble at school. What has occurred, according to some of his friends, is apparently during class, he fell unconscious mysteriously. He is currently here in my office, brought by three of his friends, one of which... is very insist on helping your son."

Maria is very shocked to hear this news, to which she responds, "I'm heading over there now, but two things. One, who is the person helping him right now? Two, is he breathing still?"

"I think it's best I pass you over to Chris's friend." said Antonucci, passing the phone over to Skylar, and saying to her, "Let her know that he is still breathing aswell please."

"Hi, it's Skylar." she says over the phone.

"Oh! You're the girl that Chris brought that day, correct?" Maria asks.

"Yeah, but that's not the main thing that's important. Look, your son is fine, he is still breathing, just very lightly. What's the fastest that you can get here? I can help you bring him to your car." explained Skylar.

"Five minutes, take care of him for now, I'll hurry. Thank you so much."

Skylar nods a bit, before she says, "No problem."

She then passes the phone back to Antonucci, who tells Maria, "We shall await your arrival. Please also remember that you are going to have to sign something that indicates he is dismissed early because of this."

"Yes, I will. Be there soon!"

And with that, Maria hangs up, and begins to head to the school, which if she was on foot, would take a bit, but because she is going on car, it will be 5x faster.

"Skylar, might I be honest?" Antonucci asks her, in which she nods her head to say yes.

"You have demonstrated great care today. I'm proud of you, truly. I'll be sure to let Chris know of your assistance you gave him today, along with Eddy and Kevin. Be proud of yourself." explained Antonucci to Skylar.

Admittedly, Skylar got slightly shy at that, as it's very rarely that a teacher, let alone a principal, gives her a compliment for something she does. But, she responds with, "Thanks. He's a good friend, and... I mean, it's only right I help him. Sorry for raising my voice earlier... I just really wanted to help, and make sure he is safe."

"It's alright, I understand fully. Now, we must wait until Maria comes to pick him up. Help her with what she needs, but once she leaves, Skylar, I am going to need you to return to class." said Antonucci.

Skylar gives a thumbs up, as to say that she understands.

After 2 and a half minutes, Maria finally arrives to the school building, before she then heads on over to the office, and notices her son unconscious. She is baffled at this sight.

"Goodness. Hello Skylar. Let me first sign the form to excuse him, one second okay?"

Antonucci passes the form to indicate that Chris is going to be excused early. MUCH more early than usual. After 20 seconds or so of filling it out, Maria finishes.

"Thank you. I hope your son gets up from this well." said Antonucci to Maria.

"Of course. Skylar, I will need your help in two ways. First, help me lift Chris up, and then grab his backpack, and we will make our way to my car."

Skylar gets to work immediately, and lifts Chris up on his right arm, and Maria grabs the left. After he is lifted up, Skylar grabs his stuff, and puts it on her back.

Once they finish with that, luckily for them, it only takes no more than 2 minutes to get to the car, which was parked in the front of the school. Skylar and Maria both get Chris into the seat next to the driver, and the former puts his backpack in the back of the car.

"Skylar, thank you so much for helping him. I appreciate it deeply." said Maria to Skylar.

"It's not an issue. Your son is... a great friend, and I love talking to him. I really hope he will be okay." responded Skylar.

"I will see to it. I promise he'll be okay. But either way, thank you, I'll be sure to let Chris know."

Maria gives a hug to Skylar, as a token of her appreciation, and the latter gives it back. Afterwards, the former says, "I must be going. Take care of yourself, okay?"

"Of course. Thanks, and good luck."

With that, Maria drives on back to the cul-de-sac, leaving Skylar in her thoughts for a bit. She walks back to class, still in doubt, but ultimately, Chris is with his mom, which should logically be better than still being here, right?

"_Please tell me he will be fine..."_

Skylar decides to put aside for thoughts for now, keeping them to herself, and runs back to her class.

Holy crap! This is absurd!

_Author's Note: Hi there. Been a while, so all apologies for that, but this chapter was originally an experiment I tried, and I ended up liking it very much, to the point where it's now what you just read! Anyways, stay on the lookout for the next chapter! Cheers!_


	49. Chapter 49: Believer

Chapter 49: Believer

Oh man... we aren't in the best of positions currently...

Anyways, picking up from before, back in Math, Skylar returns to her desk, now rolling solo. Once she returns, Eddy comes over and asks her, "Hey, what happened?"

"Chris will be fine. His mother came and picked him up, so he is now at his house. I'm just kinda nervous." responded Skylar.

Eddy tells her, "Relax. I'm sure the guy will be fine. Besides, this is possibly something that he'll recover from in like thirty or so minutes. I'll be sure to tell him that you did all of this, sure he will be happy to hear that."

"His mom will already do that, and so will Antonucci. You don't have to, thanks..." Skylar responded, with a hint of exhaustion.

Eddy simply gives a quick nod, and returns back to his normal seat.

After a couple minutes, Mr. Muta begins passing the practice for today's class, and when he gets to Skylar, he asks her, "Everything ok?"

"Yeah. Chris should be okay."

"I'm sure he will. It was something noble of you, Eddy and Kevin to help him." said Mr. Muta.

Skylar nods as to say thanks, before getting her paper for practice.

Both classes (Math and Spanish) as whole went smoothly. Well, minus the start for obvious reasons, but regardless of that, it all went to plan. Then, before everyone knew it, it was now time for their 2nd class!

Everyone from both classes got to English, with Ed and May sitting together, Double D with Marie, and surprisingly, Eddy with Lee for the first time! Skylar had to roll solo, but she didn't exactly mind that. Inevitably, Mr. Araya took notice of Chris not being present.

"Hey, where's Chris at?" he asks.

Eddy jumps in and explains, "He had an incident where he fell unconscious for some reason. Me and two other people helped him out with getting to the office, but relax, his mom picked up."

Mr. Araya had a facial expression of surprise, and so did everyone who wasn't in Math. Mr. Araya says, "Wow. Well, thank you for helping him out, hope to see the guy here sooner rather than later!"

He returns to his position at the front of the class, before Double D asks Eddy, "Eddy! Is this true?!"

"Relax Double D! He's fine now, but neither me, Skylar or Kevin could figure out why he did that!" responded Eddy.

Marie guessed, "Are you sure he wasn't faking?"

"Yeah, because Skylar shouted at the principal that she wanted to help him, and he didn't even move an inch. Trust me, it was LOUD too, so that should've gotten him up, but it didn't." explains Eddy to Marie.

Double D thought for a bit, before saying, "Once school has concluded, maybe we should visit him to check up on how he is?"

"By then, I'm sure he will have recovered. Hopefully. It was so weird, seeing that just... happen. But yeah, we will." responds Skylar.

Marie gets up to where Skylar is, and asks her, "You didn't tell him about the plan?"

"No. Luckily before it occurred, I said I had a surprise. He doesn't know, so don't worry. But I'll visit him for a minute or so, and I'll go to your place. Okay?" said Skylar in a bit of a low voice.

"Alright, just don't take so long, we only got so much time." commented Marie.

Marie gets back to her seat, walking into a conversation between Eddy and Double D about the situation.

"Oh dear..." said Double D, as he makes a realization.

"What?" asked everyone, conveniently.

"I believe I have a suspicion as to the possible cause of this."

Everyone, again, asks, "What?"

"Eddy, do you remember that one potion that made that one time for a certain purpose?" asked Double D.

Eddy recalls the potion instantly, and says, "Yeah. What, did he drink a lot of it? Wasn't it with you?"

"Correct, but last night, I called Chris to discuss what should be done about it. He seemingly, in a hurry, decided to bring it to his house, and told me he would drink it when he woke up today. This is just a possibility however, as I am unsure as to if he actually did or didn't." explained Double D.

Ed comments on the situation, saying, "Will he be okay Double D?"

"I'm positive Ed. No need to worry." responded Double D.

Double D continued to reassure Ed about things, although with Eddy and Lee, something different occurs. The latter asks the former, "How does it feel now huh?"

"What?" Eddy asks, a bit confused on what she means.

"Being together like this. Not like THAT, but ya know, right?" said Lee with a slight smile.

Eddy pauses for a brief moment, as... Lee was right. Every other time they were near each other, it was due to obnoxious stunts by the latter 99% of the percent, and the other 1% percent was due to the former "accidentally" running into the latter somewhere with the others. Needless to say, for Eddy, it's relieving not to be worried about conflict, at least for right now. Eddy stops thinking for a second, and responds to Lee...

"It's cool I guess. At least you're not... doing that stuff from before."

"Oh I'm sure that's all." Lee says while laughing a bit, before she continues. "The only other time we hung out like this was when we first met! You probably don't even remember."

"What?! Of course I remember! Though, I must ask ya... why couldn't you have done this instead? Tell ya the truth, you were never forcing me 'into it', if you know what I mean."

Lee was about to answer that question, but then, in what seems like a coincidence, Mr. Araya says, "Alright everyone! Please organize the desks! We are starting practice for a test today!"

"Tell you later." whispered Lee to Eddy.

They could only wait until either lunch, or after school, as during class seems... rather unreliable, to say the least eh?

Unfortunately, Eddy and Lee both forget accidentally about their conversation during class, and during the break that follows, as they both split into their separate crews, Eddy with Ed and Double D, and Lee with Marie, May and Skylar.

During the break, the two crews have conversations about different things. Let's see what the girls are talking about.

In the cafeteria, Marie is currently asking Skylar how exactly she helped Chris out.

"So, how did you do it? Helping him out and all?"

Skylar begins to explain, "Well, I tried to wake him up, but nothing. Then, Kevin and I grabbed him by the arms to the principal's office. He doubted that we were serious about the whole thing, but once he saw that Chris didn't even move a single inch, then he believed me. Plus, he tried to get me back to class, but I 'politely', convinced him to let me help out some more. A little bit later, Chris's mom came, and I helped her get him into the car. She thanked me for assisting him, and so, now he is home."

Marie couldn't help but laugh a bit when Skylar jokingly said politely, saying, "Did you yell at him? How did you not get in trouble?"

"Yeah. I guess it's because we had a much bigger situation, so he didn't seem to care. But yeah, I can really only pray that Chris just passed out due to being exhausted or something. Or because of what your boyfriend mentioned, honestly, I'll be fine with either." explained Skylar to Marie.

"Hey Marie! You think your man is behind him having to leave?" asks Lee.

"What?! No! It technically isn't his fault!" Marie fires back.

Lee laughs a bit, before saying, "Alright, if your man is the cause, get ready!"

"Guys! Shouldn't we more worried about him making a recovery?" said May, out of the blue.

"What she said." responded Skylar.

Marie says, in response, "That makes sense. It's too bad we weren't there to see what exactly happened, perhaps we could've helped."

"Yeah right." Lee says, bluntly.

Marie ignores her comment, but May and Skylar are confused, although the former isn't very surprised.

"Why did she say that?" whispers Skylar to May.

"It's because of... well, I can't tell you here, but it's something bad between her and Chris." said May, as quiet as she could speak.

"_You've gotta be joking. He better not have done something insanely stupid." _said Skylar, inside her mind.

And now, the Eds!

Currently, the Eds are at the basketball court, discussing the same topic the girls were, but in a different direction.

"Eddy, I think it would be best to check on Chris to see if he is doing well. It IS important to check on our friends, correct?" mentions Double D to Eddy.

"Yeah. But if he ends up like Ed did that one time?l

Double D recalls what Eddy is talking about. The infamous "pebble-in-Ed's-shoe" incident. To this day, Double D doesn't even understand why that makes Ed so... not happy? Or better yet, how. Nevertheless, Double D says to Eddy...

"Only once has Chris gotten close to that type of behavior, and it was only for the slightest of moments. Calm down Eddy, I am positive that he will be open minded and relaxed, as he usually is."

"You better be right, and if your potion or whatever did something-"

Eddy got interrupted by Ed, who randomly goes in-between both Eddy and Double D, saying, "Guys! We must save him from trouble! Now! DOOM IS-"

"Shut it! Gah!" yelled Eddy, before pushing Ed off. "Ed! He will be fine, will you calm down already!"

Double D chuckles a bit at the sudden reaction Ed had. At least he can be sure that the latter cares for the well-being of his friends. Either way, he thinks about the potion's possible effects. As far as he knows, it can heavily calm someone down the more they drink it, but falling unconscious? Double D can only conclude that if Chris passed out because of the drink, it was because of his large consumption. It also doesn't help that Double D think that Chris did it in a short amount of time.

"_Combining it with other types of things... how would that affect it? Surely it can't be problematic?!"_

You know, how IS Chris actually doing right now?

_Author's note: Oh my goodness! First of all, I seriously apologize for the nearly 2 weeks delay, as some issues came up that I had to deal with. Nothing TOO serious, but I couldn't ignore it. Second, this chapter, while it wasn't hard to write, but... thank you to Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne for giving me the needed focus! Anyways, regardless, as long as no more issues arise, I shall have the next chapter up next week. If it's delayed again... now you know why. Regardless, take care friends, and catch ya in Chapter 50! (can't believe that...)_


	50. Chapter 50: Wheels Of Confusion

Chapter 50: Wheels Of Confusion

At Chris's house...

Ever since arriving back home, what Maria has decided to do was bring Chris back to his room, and have him rest. She waited for around 10 minutes to see if he would wake up, but alas, no luck. Maria did not like how she seemingly couldn't much, other than leave him to rest for a while. But, she accepts that right now, the best thing would be to leave him to rest.

Maria decided to take care of some papers she was planning on doing, but then the incident occurred. Either way, she begins. Although, a certain thought came to her mind, which was how determined Skylar was to helping him.

"_El ha encontrado una buena persona..._" (_He has found a good person_...) Maria thinks to herself.

Although Maria doesn't exactly know much about Skylar, or has even known her for much time, that is irrelevant to her, as anyone willing to support her son, especially through something like that, she appreciates deeply. Plus, she sees a lot of things in a common with her son and his friend.

At around 12 PM...

Maria is still busy with her task, as the papers she is working involve things related to the house, and delaying work on them is anything but good.

Meanwhile, in Chris's room, it's still dead silent. Although, Chris's phone rings VERY loudly, as he didn't remember to mute it before classes started, and it blasts out "Into The Void", specifically the beginning of it.

"Ugh... what? Why is that playing?"

Chris checks it, and notices that it's just a call from someone he has 0 clue of. So he hangs up.

"Wait a minute... why am I here?! Wasn't I just in school?" said Chris, a bit loud.

He checks his phone again, and he notices that it says 12:02 PM. To you and me, it's obvious why he is home, but Chris has literally 0 recollection of the past events. Feeling suspicious, he decides to look outside his window to see if any of the other kids are home, and he doesn't see a single one.

"_What in the name of... is this a nightmare? In all seriousness, I need to figure out what is going on..." _said Chris, to himself in his mind.

He goes downstairs and checks to see if anyone is there. Well, his mom would be downstairs, but she went to the restroom upstairs. So he sees no one, only adding to the confusion. He DOES however notice a large pile of papers on the table.

"So, someone IS here. Mom most likely, no? But the thing is-"

Chris is interrupted by his mom, who left the restroom, and sees him, and gasps. She quickly comes down the stairs and hugs him, throwing him off guard, but he gives it back, after all, it is his mom. He let's go around 10 seconds after, and asks her...

"Que esta pasando?!" (What is going on?!) said Chris, extremely confused.

"You passed out during classes." his mom bluntly responds.

"_Aside from the sudden English, no... no no no no!" _exclaimed Chris in his mind, but out loud he said, "How?!"

"I don't know. Your friend helped me out however. You have great friends." said Maria.

"_Wait, who exactly is she talking about?" _wondered Chris. "Umm, mom? Who exactly are you talking about?"

"That girl, Skylar. She helped me out, carrying your stuff, and you."

Maria laughs a little bit at that statement, but Chris is on a another different emotion. He can barely believe what he is hearing. The fact that he passed out during class already doesn't make things very comforting per se, but knowing that Skylar went and helped both him and his mom through it all... makes him just lost. At this point, all of this seems more like a dream or hallucination to him, as everything seems very ridiculous and over the top. Although he has very little clue what to think at this moment, one thing is for sure that he knows. He owes Skylar a LOT.

"I'll be sure to tell her thanks. Is it okay if I rest for a bit? I'm okay, just wanna take a break to calm down, as this is ridiculous."

"Yes. But what about that party? You can't just leave your friends. Or the girl." mentions Maria.

"Mom, please don't. Look, I'll figure it out, but I'm positive that I won't have to drop it. I'm going back upstairs, okay?"

Chris gives a gives thumbs up, and his mom smiles back. Although before he leaves, he tells her, "Seems like your English is getting better. That's good."

"I try my best. Not to worry." said Maria while laughing a bit.

With that, she goes back to working on the papers, and Chris goes back upstairs to his room.. He didn't show it much, but he is just flabbergasted beyond recognition.

"_What the heck man... okay, let's see. I passed out during the literal first class it seems, as I can't recall anything but getting there. But what in god's name made me pass out?"_

Chris sits on his chair, deciding to try to wake himself up with some games and music, specifically "Hellraiser" by Ozzy Osbourne. As he is playing and listening, his thoughts continue to flow.

"_I did sleep, so no way is that the reason. Wait... oh my god. It was that stupid potion from Double D wasn't it?! Well, it isn't even his fault, because I drank it like a moron. Why did I have to drink it ALL!? How impatient can I be... but forget it! At least I wasn't affected for that long, but I know mom is not happy about losing a day of school. Thank goodness it was JUST a day, because I'm pretty sure she would've gone crazy. To be fair, I would've too, I mean, seriously, being knocked out cold like that, all so suddenly?"_

Chris facepalms, before pausing his game, but leaving on his music to think of a certain _someone. _

"Narrator, you don't have to be cryptic about it when it's plain obvious who it is."

...right!

"_Anyways, Skylar, you've gotta be kidding me. Why do I sound like I'm not appreciating her? I mean, how long did she help me for? I can only hope it was not a stupidly long time like twenty-five plus minutes, because I'm going to be forced to pay her back somehow. Then again... I have to repay her someway. But how?At least I'm sure of one thing, she is definitely someone I can trust."_

Chris recalls his and Skylar's conversation about the upcoming party, in which he chuckles a bit at the memory.

"_Still can't believe she just, knew. I think THAT'S how I'm going to repay her, because if I ditch her and the others, not only is that going to seem so just, moronic on my end, but I get the feeling it's only going to amplify their worry. Wouldn't be surprised if they think I'm a ghost now. Or, maybe just Ed. Either way, I need to just be sure that I'm not exhausted or any of that kind of stuff, especially near her, because something tells me that she was right nearby. Then again, so would the entire class, no?"_

The whole "objective" of not being exhausted gives Chris an idea_._ He goes over and gets his phone, and starts picking out songs that he knows gets him in a chair tossing mood. The good kind, not the bad kind. After around a couple minutes, he sets it up, and he is positive that in the event of low energy, he can go to these songs.

"_I honestly probably won't even need these songs, because I'm very sure that the party is going to be ridiculously loud. As is the standard with parties, so that's not a surprise to me. Good thing I already got the music for the party itself ready. Hopefully Eddy has aswell. I really hope that he didn't pick some insanely stupid song about 'picking up the ladies'. If he did, please tell me he has a trick in back up."_

Chris recalls what he picked for his attire for this party, and he is still confident in his decision. After all, it's not like he has 502 different outfits to choose from, as going to a party is something that rarely occurs, especially to this scale.

"_I'm sure Skylar will be fine with it. Though, that should be the last thing I'm concerned about. I'm actually nervous as to her reaction when she finds me. Yeah, she'll probably be happy, but golly, hopefully it's not an overreaction. Then again, I've never recalled her even doing anything like that before, as she is mostly calm in every situation, so I think I'll be fine. That would be the last thing I would want to happen."_

Afterwards, Chris realizes that he has to explain EVERYTHING to his friends, which is much easier to say than do.

"_I expect them to visit me once school is over... which won't be for like, three or four hours. The only thing I hope is that they don't overreact upon seeing me up and all."_

Chris's thoughts come to a halt, when his mom calls him down for help with the papers. How he is supposed to help out with papers relating to house, that is a mystery to him.

45 minutes later...

"God, that was painful." said Chris, annoyed, as the work he had to help his mom with was a lot of translations, and explaining words. He doesn't hate helping her, don't get him wrong, but when it comes for extended periods of time, he gets exhausted.

This does, however, give an idea. He goes and gets his phone, and pulls up Skylar's number. Calling her is beyond out of the question, because if he interrupts her during class, she is going to most likely going to get angry with him. So, instead, he decides to leave her a text, basically letting her know that he is okay.

"**_Hey, it's Chris. I know, I know. I'll explain everything once you're out of school, but I'm okay."_**

"_Watch her STILL freak out. Never change Skylar... haha." _said Chris in his mind.

Although, Chris does wonder what's going on at the school, since he is now absent. Then again, he doesn't expect there to be some random lunchroom rumble, as Eddy once told him occurred on Valentine's Day. Or anything large as a whole. In fact, he only recalls that there were supposed to be a lot of practice for tests tomorrow... which isn't very promising, but even then, he can schedule another time to do the tests, as he has been told by the teachers before.

Either way, Chris decides to lay down for a bit, and just fidget around with some nunchucks, his standard all black ones that he has used in literally every encounter that involved him having to fight.

"_Ahhh... the memories. Not all good though, for the record. Such as the fights with Lee. Poor judgement at its finest there." _

Chris adopts a neutral expression, as while sure, at the time, it might've seemed like the "necessary" thing or whatever, but it's not really brought about anything good, only conflict. He can only hope he doesn't have any encounters like that with her. Though, as before, easier than done sometimes, especially when it becomes unpredictable.

Speaking of which, what are the fellows at the school doing at this moment?

Currently, it's now almost 1 PM, and everyone is simply enjoying their last minutes of lunch, as there's only around less than 10 minutes left of it. Nearly a whole half of a cafeteria table was taken by the crew of over 10 people. Naturally, almost everyone had split into being a specific someone, such as Lee with Eddy, Marie with Double D, Ed with May, and Kevin with Nazz. Rolf, Jonny and Skylar took some of the other space, with Skylar sitting on a spot in-between May and Marie. By this point, all of them where simply having conversations about anything, some hilarious, some about the upcoming event, and some a bit more on the serious side.

Talking about serious conversations, Lee gets reminded, seemingly out of the blue, about what she planned to tell Eddy... however, in this VERY crowded area, she hardly considers it a good idea to talk about the specific topic at this moment.

"Hey." she whispers into Eddy's ear.

"What's up?" Eddy whispered back.

"Remember the thing I was gonna tell you? Let's make time during the party to talk. Alright?" responded Lee. "We can't talk about it right now, understood?"

Eddy nods his head, saying yes, and the two of them have settled on it. They both agree to it, as it's easier to find a spot that's private, and adding onto to that, there is no worry about classes starting, restricting time.

Oh, won't we have a large scale event! Ha!

_Auth_or's _Note: Thank you, dear website, for bugging the chapter when it originally was published, wow. Okay, aside from that, I honestly can't believe this. 50. 50! I won't go into much detail here, but I didn't even plan that to happen. Am I complaining? Nope! I enjoy writing for this story. Anyways, enough of that, I wanted to try something a bit different for this chapter, and I'm overall satisfied with it! Either way, I shall catch you guys in Chapter 51. Cheers!_


	51. Chapter 51: Crazy Train

Chapter 51: Crazy Train

It's officially now 3:15, which means everyone is now free from school! Before our group of fellows can do their preparations, everyone expect for Jonny, Plank and Rolf, is going to visit Chris, to check up on how he is doing, if only for a brief amount of time, as everyone has to prepare in their own way.

"Are we even sure he is... awake?!" asked Eddy.

"Yes. He sent me a text, literally confirming that he is fine. We don't have to spend much time, just check up on him." responds Skylar.

Double D throws in his two cents, saying, "As much as I would like to dismiss this as solved Eddy, I much prefer to make absolute certainty of the fact that Chris has recovered from this very concerning scenario. Keep in mind, he will require assistance with what he missed in school today."

"Well, as long as he can come with us to the party." stated Eddy.

"Is that really all you care about?" asked Lee, surprising Eddy a bit.

"Uh, no. What gave that idea?" said a confused Eddy.

"You seem to be bringing up the party more than the health of your friend." mentioned Lee.

While this may appear as the case, Eddy brings up, "What?! Hey, I helped him get out of class with Kevin and Skylar!"

"Yeah, it's true." responded both the former and the latter, making Lee this surprised one now.

"Alright, at least you ain't faking your concern." says Lee.

"_She must be pulling my leg... I literally helped him through that, and we both have good talks over a lot of things, how could I possibly be faking it?! Maybe she's... yeah, she's definitely pulling my leg." _thought Eddy to himself.

The crew of nearly 10 people get to Chris's house. Chris himself is upstairs, doing something, but his mom sees the large group of people incoming, and she is pleasantly surprised, as this confirms her thought of her son finding very good friends. She goes outside and greets everyone.

"Hi, I assume you are wondering how Chris is?" she asks everyone.

Double D speaks first, saying, "Yes. If you don't mind, we, or more specifically, Ed, Eddy, Skylar and I would like to talk to your son Ms... umm..."

"Double D isn't it? You can just call me Maria, it's okay. Yes, you four can enter and go to his room. Will the rest of you please come inside and relax in the living room?" said Maria, as a response.

And so, the Eds and Skylar makes their way upstairs, while Maria takes care of everyone else, something she enjoys doing.

Upstairs, Chris is "busy" listening to "Dragula" by Rob Zombie, and he didn't even notice that a mini crowd entered his house. Oh doesn't he have a surprise awaiting him. Considering that Chris is blasting the music QUITE loudly, he probably wouldn't even be able to hear the four people coming up to his room.

Double D gets near the door, and the music is playing clear as day. He almost knocks on the door, but Skylar motions him to pauses, saying afterwards, "Wait for it to be done. I know how this goes. Trust me."

The crew only had to sit for around 1 more minute. Once the song had stopped, and all was silent, Double D knocks on the door.

"Oh snap, coming!"

Chris opens the door, and he is thrown off incredibly, jumping a bit at the sight of his friends just... standing there.

"Dude! You guys scared me!"

Before anyone gets to say anything else, Skylar hugs Chris, which doesn't exactly surprise him very much, but he still returns it. Afterward, he says, "Happy much?"

"Shut up, you know I am." responded Skylar.

"How are you feeling Chris? Has there been any possible after effects?" asked Double D.

Chris responds, "I'm feeling good now, and for that second part, not that I know of, nor can feel. So that must mean no, which is good."

"Do you still plan on going? Because if not, it's completely fine man." asks Eddy.

"Yes..." said Chris, breathing out deeply for a second. "...but I will mention that in the event that this occurs again, you guys will need to have a plan already in reserve, because now we know to anticipate it. By the way, Eddy and Skylar, thanks a lot. Mom told me around a couple hours ago about everything. Still a bit to take in."

"It was just to help you out. Kevin also helped by the way." mentions Skylar.

"Ah. I'll be sure to give him thanks." responds Chris.

Skylar then says, "Look, I want to talk to ya in private for a bit. Can I? It won't be long."

"Sure. Hey, do you guys mind if we-"

Chris was interrupted by Eddy, who said, while pulling his friends, "Leaving, already gone!"

Both of the two remaining laugh a bit at that silliness, before Skylar enters the room. They both take a seat on Chris's medium-sized couch.

"I'm so glad that you're okay. You seriously had me worried!" said Skylar.

"Yeah, I can imagine. Don't worry, I'm fine now. But thanks again, for helping me and my mom through this craziness, I owe you a lot." responds Chris.

"No, trust me, it's fine, you don't owe me anything. You being okay is more than enough." said Skylar, before adding on, "I would much rather you rest more if that has to be the case."

"What? Relax okay, I'm fine. Besides, I'm still going to the party, and I've talked with mom beforehand, and she trusts both me, and you guys enough. Plus, consider this party as my thanks for your help."

Although Skylar is a bit reluctant, ultimately, she agrees to it. "Okay. But if something doesn't feel right, tell me immediately, got that?"

Chris nods his head to say yes, afterwards he says, "You have my word. Let's go join the Eds downstairs."

"Wait." Skylar says. "For the record, it's actually not just us and the Eds. It's actually us, plus the Kankers, Kevin and Nazz."

Chris couldn't believe what he just heard, as he is slightly worried as to if his mom will be able to handle THAT many people.

"My goodness! Did ALL of you really have to come? I mean, I appreciate it, but I don't want to consume everyone's time." said Chris in response.

"Relax. It will be okay." Skylar tells Chris.

She then notices the nunchucks on a table near Chris's bed, and asks him, "Hey, do you actually use those"

"Ah, those things." said Chris, while getting up and getting them from the table. "I occasionally mess around and fidget around with them. They are pretty fun, honestly."

"Can you show me a trick or something cool?" asked Skylar.

"Well..."

Chris proceeds to show a simple trick he knows, where he flips around a bit with his left hand, before he quickly throws it in the air, and catches it with his right hand, before spinning it a bit, then flipping it and catching it with his left hand.

"...and, voila." said Chris of the trick.

Skylar claps as appreciation of that demonstration, then saying afterward, "Nice! Short, simple, but still looked hard to do!"

"I mean, it's actually easier in comparison to other stuff I know, but thanks still. Anyways, let me leave these here, and let's go join them downstairs, shall we?"

"Before we do that actually... well..." said Skylar.

"Yeah?"

What happens next is, Skylar blows a kiss towards Chris's direction. His reaction is a simple eye roll, while laughing a bit. Afterwards, he goes downstairs with her, and yep, everyone is there, to his slight shock.

Kevin is the first one to speak, saying, "Hey! Looks like you've recovered my guy! Feeling better? You took a bit of a fall."

"Yeah. Thanks for helping me man, appreciate it much." responds Chris.

Kevin and Chris share a fist bump, before Chris's mom comes out and says, "Chris, can you please ask who is thirsty? I would like to provide water to anyone who needs it."

Maria returns back to the kitchen, before Chris says, "Sure. Does anyone need water at all?"

Double D, Ed, all three Kankers, Nazz and Kevin say yes. So, Chris takes note of 7.

"Mom! That will be six glasses of water. Not too large though! I'll also take one too." said Chris.

After around 3 minutes, Maria manages to serve the water to everyone who asked for said water. Everyone gives her thanks, to which she nods happily. Double D then tells Chris, "I must say, your mother sure knows how to care for guests."

"Yeah, it's one of her specialties. Everyone, as long as they act nice and aren't overly ridiculous, are welcome to her." mentions Chris. "So don't worry you guys, she'll welcome you in."

"Can I just say, it's funny how me and her have similar sounding names." Marie mentions.

Everyone shares a bit of a laugh, before Double D says, "Keep in mind Marie, it's highly unlikely anyone will confuse you and the mother's names, taking into consideration the context of the vastly different people involved. If anything, it will at best be accidental."

"Double D does have a point Marie." said May. "You are too different from Chris's mom!"

Everyone share another laugh, expect Marie, who scoffs and tells May, "Alright then, you win that one."

Randomly, Ed claps, and says, "Your mom is a good friend to Ed!"

"Thank you Ed, appreciate it!" said Maria from across the room.

Ed chuckles a bit at that, while May silently observes, admiring the way he shows appreciation for people. Meanwhile, Kevin brings up, "So, are we going to get started with getting prepared for the party?"

"Ah! Yeah, that would be best to do right now, as we don't have the most amount of time for preparing. We all shall meet again, at the party no less!" stated Chris.

"Let's get going!" said Nazz. "Oh yeah, thanks Chris, your mom is very welcoming."

"No worries. Again, she welcomes anyone friendly." responds Chris.

Eddy walks over, and says, "Hey, we have to do a plan before we actually start, remember?"

It doesn't come immediately, but then it hits Chris. He recalls the original plan of getting Ed all washed and everything, as the "normal" smell of Ed will NOT fly this time. Then again, it hardly flies, at least with Double D.

"Right. Well, we should get started as soon as possible." responds Chris to Eddy's statement.

Over with Double D and Marie, they are currently saying their goodbyes for now.

"Hope you're ready for what's waiting!" teased Marie to Double D, making him appear slightly embarrassed.

"I'm certain I will. Please take care of yourself Marie, see you at the party!" Double D told Marie, in which afterwards they share a quick kiss.

Over to Ed and May, they are ALSO saying their own goodbyes.

"I can't wait for the party, it's going to be so fun!" Ed tells May, to which she smiles back.

"Same! See you then Ed!"

May then runs in for a hug, to which Ed returns said hug.

Meanwhile, Eddy goes over to Lee, the latter of which says, "You ready little man?"

"You bet! I'll catch ya later, gotta get all ready."

Lee chuckles at that statement, before delivering Eddy a quick kiss, and smiling afterward. Eddy doesn't fully know how to feel. One side is telling him that he should just go for it, but one other side is telling him to wait a bit, just to see where this can actually go. Regardless, he gives her a glance, as she is walking out the door with her sisters, awaiting for Skylar.

Last but not least, Chris goes to where Skylar is, and tells her, "Well, this is bye for now, but it won't be for long."

"Better not! I'm just messing with ya, but yeah, don't worry. You best take care, okay?" said Skylar.

Chris responds by putting his fist into his open hand, as to signal "yes", afterwards the two share a quick hug, before Skylar joins the Kankers.

Maria comes out, and tells everyone, "Please take care of yourselves!"

Everyone responds with a variation of thanks, and so, they all go and do their preparations. Over with the four remaining members of the crew, Maria asks them, "What do you need to do before the party?"

"To put it simple, Ed needs some assistance with clothing selection, and me and the other Eds pledged to help him out." explains Chris to his mother. "For the record, this shouldn't take THAT long, but we will be busy."

"Alright. Are you leaving right now?" asks Maria.

Chris nods as to say yes, and Maria responds with, "Okay. Good luck."

"Not to worry, thank you Maria for the refreshments, it was a very nice touch." said Double D.

"You are welcome Double D. Please go on now, see you boys another time."

With that, the four of them leave the house, and begin making their way over to Ed's house. While en route there, Eddy asks Chris, "So, what did Skylar want?"

"We confirmed that we are going to party, and I reassured her that I was all recovered from that situation. Besides, that's not the main thing of importance." responded Chris, before continuing by saying, "Ed, you all set to get all washed up, literally?"

"I suppose... what about the jacket?" asked Ed, while pointing at his signature green jacket.

"Not to worry Ed, we shall take it, and bring it to your room. We won't bathe you fully clothed." explains Double D. "We just need to get a gas mask first..."

"Please don't start this again!" yelled out Eddy. "You guys went on about that for hours!"

"Well excuse me that I take great precautions to take care of my personal hygiene, thank you very much!" fired back Double D.

"Calm down guys. Double D, don't you have a machine that you used one time for this specific instance?" asks Chris.

"The details are much deeper than that, but to simplify it for you, Eddy had received the idea for a 'show', where Ed would get an overwhelmingly large makeover of his image and persona. According to Eddy himself, he had gotten the idea from when I tasted our lime juice that we were selling that day, and it seemed there was an over excessive amount of sugar, making me overly hyper. The show, unfortunately, was a bust, as some would say, when the Kankers came and showed that Ed was reading off lines we gave beforehand." explained Double D.

Chris responded, "Wow. Couldn't Ed have... no actually nevermind. Thank goodness you three have gone away from that feud with the sisters. Especially you Double D, congrats."

"The Kankers have been cleansed of the dangerous mind control of yucky mushy stuff!" commented Ed.

No one understood what Ed was even talking about, so Eddy asks, "Oh, I'll regret asking this, but what do you mean?"

"You see Eddy, the Kankers were cursed with the curse of the lovey dicey stuff, and one very special moon arrived, that burned the curse of nearly 2 years! The Kankers have now been returned to normal, and they are now good pals with all of us!" explained Ed in a mysterious, yet somewhat cheerful manner.

Everyone had different reactions to what Ed had just said. Chris slowly clapped while laughing at the same time, finding that "explanation", pretty dumb, yet funny in a certain way. Double D could only sigh, as he knows that the reasoning is basically 100% inaccurate to what the ACTUAL reasoning is. As for Eddy, he only facepalmed at that statement Ed just gave.

"Forget I even asked. Can we just get started already?!" exclaimed Eddy.

"Certainly. We have arrived. Let us get started!" Double D responded.

For the next 20 or so minutes, Ed was being washed down with that same machine used when he was "made over", so to say. Eddy was responsible for covering Ed up with a towel, plus an extra one for good measure, while Double D and Chris were responsible for the washing and drying, respectively. Double D himself had already laid out what clothing Ed would wear to this party, so that issue was taken of already. The process of washing Ed down wasn't difficult, the only thing was Ed suffered a bit from being a bit cold, but that quickly went away once the cleaning and everything started.

Afterwards, Double D provides Ed with some slippers, so that he can go down to his room and prepare himself with the clothing he was given with by his fellow friend. What Ed finds is a large sky blue jacket, plus a grey shirt, along with some dark brown pants, underwear of the same color, and black shoes and socks. As a bit of a bonus, Double D left some deodorant, both for the arm pits and chest. While Ed is no longer afraid of deodorant, or soap for that matter, he is still somewhat indifferent to using them, but in this case, he is going to do it solely for May's happiness. Aside from that, Ed was happy with the clothes, and he gets into them in around 3 minutes, and comes outside to present himself to his friends.

"How I do look guys?" asked Ed.

"Nice man! You look great, I'm sure May will be amazed with how you look." commented Chris.

Eddy is fairly surprised, saying, "Better hope May doesn't start freaking out when she sees ya. I'm just messing with ya, nice job amigo!"

"I must say this turned out quite well. How do you feel Ed?" asks Double D to his friend.

"Quite funny Double D. Are you sure May will like this?" said Ed in a slightly worried tone.

"Of course Ed! Don't be silly."

Everyone shares a laugh, before Eddy brings up, "Should the rest of us start getting ready aswell?"

"Definitely Eddy, I shall catch you fellows at the party!" Double D told Eddy, but the latter quickly responds with...

"Wait! What are you doing? Aren't we going to witness what you're dressing yourself like?" asked Eddy.

While Double D would much prefer to do this more privately, he tells his friends, "Alright then, but the rule you all must take note of is not to let anyone know, understood?"

"Dude, who are we going to tell? Relax, you'll be fine, me and the other two will wait downstairs for ya." responds Chris.

Off to Double D's house we go!


	52. Chapter 52: United

Chapter 52: United

4:00 PM

While the lads are occupied with their business, what are the ladies up to?

Over at the Kanker's trailer, the sisters plus Skylar have started to organize their preparations for the upcoming party. Marie decided to dress herself up first, although once she was done with the dress itself, she decided. to ask help from Skylar with a couple things.

"Ready?" asked Skylar.

"Yeah, don't be too quick however." responded Marie.

"Of course." said Skylar.

What Marie has asked help with is with makeup, as while she knows a basic idea of stuff to do, Skylar has been doing much higher variety of makeup, so the former asked the latter to provide her talents. While Skylar is proceeding with her work, she decides to ask Marie about something that has been bothering her since May mentioned it to her.

"Hey, is it true that Lee has... some sort of just, feud with Chris?"

Marie only shrugged a little bit, before explaining, "Yeah. It's a long story, so ready?"

Skylar nods, and Marie begins telling the story, saying, "Well, it's a ridiculously messy story, but here's how it went. Me and Double D were alone discussing some stuff, and, don't spread this around, but that's when we started our relationship. Anyways, the other Eds and Chris came and slammed through the door, however I guess my sisters weren't that far behind either, because not even a minute after the boys arrived, May and Lee came too. I had a plan to throw both of them off, as they wouldn't believed me if I said that me and Double D were in a relationship, so I pretended that I took him hostage for us."

Skylar adopts a face of confusion, stating, "That's so strange, but where's the part that explain the feud?"

"It's coming, but listen." responded Marie. "When I told my sisters about it, they believed me, and Chris tried to convince them to give Double D back, but Lee refused, and declared a fight for him. This is where it happens, so get ready. Lee was set to fight Eddy first, but unfortunately, poor Eddy lost both rounds, although that doesn't surprise me, to tell ya the truth. Right after he lost, she asked if we can take Double D home, but that's when Chris comes out to fight."

Skylar chuckles slightly, awaiting what Marie is about to tell her, as to the former, this story seems absolutely ridiculous beyond all comprehension. Regardless, Marie proceeds onwards by saying, "Chris surprised everyone that day, because apparently, Double D told me some details, but Chris knows martial arts apparently, and this made Lee lose both rounds. However, in the last one, Chris ended it in a very overkill manner, because, it's hard to describe, as he did it fast, but to tell ya, he basically hit her really fast and hard with some nunchucks he brought along secretly, then he threw them, hitting her face, and doing a kick that didn't look pretty at all, knocking her down."

"Wait a second!" commented Skylar. "He told me back at his room, that he just fidgets around with it sometimes. Was that a lie?"

"Really? Yeah, he lied then, because I've seen it, and trust me, fidgeting is NOT all that he does." responded Marie, slightly surprised.

Skylar is a bit disappointed, because if there's one thing that she dislikes, is when people lie about stuff. She then says, "I'll have a conversation with him, but why would he lie about it? Weird..."

"Up to you to discover. After all, he is technically-"

"Don't go there." Skylar said, cutting Marie off.

After around 35 minutes, Skylar manages to finish up Marie's makeup, and so, the results are in. Marie essentially had her skin on her face get a bit of a more natural matte look, while her eyes got a bit of a dark blue-ish tint of eyeliner. Marie also takes note of her dark lipstick on her lips, which she admires.

"Wow. You did great! I love your attention to detail." said Marie.

"It's not a big deal. I could've done it better, but I don't want to take up much time with you, in case the others need any assistance. But I'm glad you like it, it's not everyday I get to help some with their appearance." responds Skylar.

"Hey Marie! Are you done yet! We have to go next ya know!" yelled Lee, from outside the restroom, where everyone was planning to do their makeup and dressing routine.

In response, Marie opens the door, with Skylar coming from behind, and May Lee are impressed by the effort that Skylar put in.

"How long have you been doing this?" May asks Skylar.

"Three years. Although, the fashion of make up that I grew up with is different with here, so I tried to adapt it with the fashion of here. I think it turned out pretty well." explains Skylar.

May gets excited, as if Marie looked great thanks to Skylar, she could only wonder how she could appear because of the effort and work Skylar puts into it. May proceeds to ask, "Can you help me too?"

"Sure, no problem at all. First, though, get your dress on first, just so that we can take care of that step first, okay? Lee, do you want assistance too, or will you be doing it solo?" Skylar mentions.

Lee pauses for a moment, then says, "I had doubts about ya, but after what you did with Marie... sure!"

"Gotcha. Let May be first, then I'll work with ya." responded Skylar.

For around 75 minutes or so, Skylar gets busy with doing the makeup for both May and Lee. The former's makeup was fairly simple, in comparison to the other two sisters. With the latter, the minor roadblock that she ran into was the large amount of hair Lee had, in comparison to the other two, who had hair to a lesser extent. Eventually, the two came to an agreement, that any eye related makeup would not be used, although Skylar questions slightly how exactly Lee manages to see, but regardless, she proceeds with it. The feedback she gets from the other two sisters is equally as positive, with a bit more praise from May herself, even giving her a hug as thanks from the assistance.

At around 6:10, Skylar wraps up everyone's make up, satisfied with the work. Well, expect that she has one more person left. Herself!

"I'm glad with how you guys like your makeup. I have to do my business now, so give me a bit okay?"

"You betcha." responded Lee.

With that, Skylar begins her own self makeup and dressing process. She decided to go more simple with herself, really only applying some skin makeup and lipstick. Although she does enjoy to get more creative with the possible ideas with makeup, sometimes she prefers to go a bit more simple. Less is more to her, basically.

"Why don't you check on the boys, dear narrator?" said Skylar, randomly.

Well... sure then! That was strange.

Over to the lads, the people who are finished with their clothing process are Ed obviously, but also Double D, along with more recently, Eddy. Eddy had worn the same clothes that he demonstrated to Chris a while ago, but with Double D, he adopted a white suit with a tie, along with black thin pants with a belt in-between, and for shoes, he decided to wear black and white shoes for the occasion. The only person that is left is obviously just Chris, who just started his clothing process. The Eds decided to wait downstairs in the meanwhile, having a bit of a conversation with Maria.

In his room, first he starts by taking a shower before putting any of the clothing on. Afterwards, once done, he decides to do a rather unusual decision. Well, more specifically, unusual to everyone else, but normal to him. He decided to put a t-shirt of Slayer's "Haunting The Chapel", in which he laughs a bit at that choice.

"_Watch Skylar get mad at me. I'm sure she'll be okay with it. More or less." _said Chris to himself in his mind.

Let's hope he is right, haha! Anyways, he then throws on a black leather jacket, along with black jeans and black white shoes. After around 10 minutes, he manages to finish up. Before heading downstairs, he notices the nunchucks that he used earlier in the day, and decides to bring them, but ONLY in the case of emergencies, as parties are unpredictable sometimes for him. Admittedly aswell, Chris notes his very dark appearance in terms of his clothing color, but he doesn't mind it much, as he likes it a lot, as a matter of fact. But the reactions of his friends is something that he isn't very sure of. Regardless, he comes down to join his friends.

"Going with a single color I see. Not bad man!" commented Eddy.

"A tad bit too dark, don't you think Chris? Also, what about the shirt" questioned Double D a bit.

"No worries, it'll be fine. Skylar likes the shirts anyways, but for a party like this? I have no clue to be fair. I don't expect much anyways, maybe a, 'bollocking', as she likes to tell me sometimes." said Chris.

"As long as you can manage it, that is what's important." responded Double D.

"That is very much true. Should we head on over to Kevin's place now to assist with any possible preparations for the party?" asked Chris. "We did promise him that we would help out, no?"

"May as well, right? Hey, Maria, thanks for letting us here as always!" yelled out Eddy.

Maria gives a thumbs up as a response, and she says bye to the four lads, wishing them fun at this party. At around 6:15 PM, the boys arrive at Kevin's house, in which only a couple people have arrived. Kevin takes notice of their arrival, and goes over to greet them.

"Hey! Looking sharp over here!" commented Kevin. "Really aiming for a good impression aren't we?"

"Maybe not the case for Double D, but for me, Chris and Ed, you betcha." responded Eddy. "Although, I'm sure I won't have to try hard."

"Sure, dork, haha! Come on! Let's get ready before the ladies come over. I've managed to get the music system ready, but did you and Chris get the music itself ready Eddy?" asks Kevin. "I hope you guys didn't pick ridiculous songs."

"Don't worry, while I can one hundred percent understand how someone would see what I listen to as aggressive, I have some tunes that aren't overly absurd." commented Chris. "Eddy! You got some stuff ready?"

"You betcha!" responds Eddy.

With that, the three of them spend a couple minutes setting the music up, testing one of the songs, "Bad", by Micheal Jackson, and it works perfectly fine.

6:20 PM rolls around, and everyone is assigned different tasks currently. Ed and Double D are currently busy making sure nothing looks unpresentable, or for more simple terms, dirty. While Eddy, Kevin and Chris took the assignments of entertainment, food and drinks, and organizing it all.

While they work however, it occurs to Chris that something is off.

"Hmm... it's almost time, where are they?" asked Chris.

"The girls?" responded Eddy. "Eh, they're probably busy. Cut them some slack, I'm sure they'll come."

What is going on at the trailer?

At the same time, Skylar has taken note of the fact that she and the Kankers will not make it on time, but that's okay with her, because nothing huge really happens at a party until much later. Although, she decides to shoot Chris a call, just in case he gets worried about her. She hits call, and waits a bit, before he picks up after 5 seconds.

"Hey, what's up? Are you on your way right now?" asked Chris over the phone.

"No, we're gonna be slightly late unfortunately. Is it okay if we come like 10 or so minutes later? Nothing large will happen, right?" explains Skylar.

"Yeah that's fine, don't you worry. Me and the others still got other things to do anyways, so we will be quite occupied to say the least. If anything else occurs, let me know as soon as possible." responded Chris.

"Alright. Hope you're ready for what's coming though. Catch ya later." said Skylar, slightly seductively.

Chris laughs before hanging up, and Skylar is about to finish up what she was previously doing. Meanwhile, over with the Kankers, all of them are doing some last minute checks on everything, just to be sure they are well prepared for the event. It's the first time they've ever been invited with open arms in a long, long time, as their attitude with the kids hasn't exactly gotten them the best of reputations.

With May, she can only hope that Ed has 110% gotten over his fear of her from the past, and has fully attempted her as a friend. Of course, she does not expect a love relationship, but to get on Ed's good side will feel like a huge accomplishment to her. After all, she has always felt as she is the mirror match to Ed.

Over to Marie, she is feeling quite happy herself, being with Double D, and attending the party with him. Her only goal with this party is perhaps to get to know Double D more... while in private. She never did want him and her being the center of attention, in a non-ironic way.

From Lee's perspective, being with Eddy is great, it seems her mirror match has also come around. Although, like May, she doesn't expect a love relationship, not in the slightest bit. Regardless, she still plans to hopefully make this night for her and Eddy fun and one for the books.

Lastly, Skylar's point of view is very mixed. Should she expect Chris to ask her "the question"? Or will she ask it? Because to her, it's obvious beyond obvious that he has taken a "liking" to her, so to say, but it's not really up to her to decide, as she would prefer if they both agreed, rather than them both having different perspectives. Either way, she hopes to enjoy the moment, even if she plans a conversation with him about the feud he has gotten himself into.

Returning back to the lads...

After Chris receives the news from Skylar, he goes over to the Eds, and tells them, "Okay, I just got a call from Skylar, and she plus the Kankers are going to be slightly late. If I were to place a bet, they'll arrive no later than like fifteen minutes."

"As long as they are proceed smoothly with everything they've planned, it should all be well." responded Double D.

"Oh, someone's expecting something!" teased Eddy, causing a burst of laughter, and making Double D sigh in slight annoyance, but eventually chuckling a bit at Eddy's little joke.

"And you aren't Eddy?" Double D fires back, causing Eddy to become stuck, and embarrassed. Checkmate!

"Enough already. We all are expecting a surprise, but we don't know what exactly." stated Chris. "Honestly, I'll be happy with whatever, because it's cool to get a large scale surprise or however you want to say it, but... I don't know, simple but effective! Let's just say it like that."

"Will there be cartoons involved guys?" asked Ed, in a silly manner.

"No Ed, I highly doubt that cartoons will be involved. If anything, I'm positive in the fact that it will be more related to appearance." responded Double D.

"We will see in a bit." commented Eddy.

Oh, we will!


	53. Chapter 53: The Mob Rules

_Autho_r's _note: Didn't I originally say that Chapter 39 was my favorite? Well, I think this one takes the cake now! No spoilers, but I'm glad with how this turned out. :)_

Chapter 53: The Mob Rules

It's now 6:40 PM, and the party has started. Almost everyone has arrived, with the Kankers plus Skylar starting their route over to the house.

Everything that was set up by the crew that were alway there has worked perfectly fine. The amount of snacks brought by everyone who pitched in was more than enough for everyone who arrived for the party. For the most part, the people who arrived are having a good time, even the people currently arriving some _special _company.

However, while for the most part the party is going fairly well, something is brewing up. Eddy goes over to the kitchen, to retrieve his drink, and that he does... until a random dude at the party smacks it out of his hand, almost spilling it, but Eddy catches it in time. Although, this doesn't get rid of Eddy's irritated feeling.

"What the heck was that for?!" said Eddy, harshly.

"Hey, don't be upset small dude, we're just teasing a bit!" responded the anonymous man. "Seriously though, how the heck are you that short!? Did you get squashed by some hundred pound hammer man? You need to get stretched out a bit more, because right now you're lookin like some step to a stair!"

He and his fellow buddies start laughing, making Eddy angry, as his height has never been something he likes to talk about much, let alone be judged of. However, this also attracts the attention of Ed and Double D, along with Chris and Kevin, the former group of which walks over, to attempt to resolve matters.

"Excuse me, but what is happening over here?" asked Double D. "Is this a sick joke we are playing right now?"

"Oh, now who's this? Mr. I wear a mop on my head?" responded another dude from the group. "Lord, get that off yourself! Show off your hair, that's what the real ones do! You should be using that thing to wipe the floors or something, haha!"

"I beg your pardon, but I shall not abide by your crude and rather insensitive criteria." Double D fires back, sounding annoyed. However, this might've been the wrong thing to say, because the dude that talked back to Double D grabs him by the collar and tells him...

"Really?! Guess we will take it off you! Boys!"

Little does the punk know that what he said has now made Chris and Kevin come over to resolve this, and the former leaves his jacket, but takes the nunchucks just in case, and yells out, "YOU BETTER STOP RIGHT THERE!"

They come over, and Kevin asks, "Yo, what's the deal here? You need to get kicked out or something?"

"You and your friends, kicking us out? Ha! You're outnumbered here buddy, six to five, you ain't kicking no one out." responded the dude who originally provoked Eddy. "In fact, I think we can take over this party, if you can even call it that, because it's been such a joke so far! Ha!"

"You really think we can't huh? That's a good one. Why don't you and your insecure friends leave, hmm?" responded Chris, in a very cold sounding way, adopting a very serious face aswell. "I'd suggest you don't test us, not for our sakes, oh no, but for you and your absolutely pathetic friends."

"Oh, you think you're the thought guy here?" said the guy, with a disapproving tone. "I don't like your attitude, so how's this for pathetic!"

The dude tried to go for a jab directly at Chris's face, but the latter expected something like that, and quickly grabs his hand, twists it a bit, and punches him back in the chin to counter, making him almost fall over, before being caught by one of his buddies.

"I don't think so bud. You and your pals, gone, NOW." said Chris. "It's one way or the other, but you decide if you wanna be stupid.

Kevin follows up with, "Yeah, it ain't even a question, out, or we will make you!"

"I wouldn't mess with all of us at once, if you do, expect to feel dumber than dumb! Get out, all of you!" Eddy added on.

"All those threats eh? Well, boys? Screw this, GET THEM!" said the guy in an angry tone.

The dude who provoked Eddy decides to go for Chris and Eddy, with one other person assisting him aswell. The guy who provoked Double D decided to go for Kevin, Double D and Ed, with the rest of the bullies assisting him. At this point, now it's a large scale brawl, with the rest of the people watching in surprise, or randomly cheering for who is winning.

With Eddy and Chris, they run in the kitchen, and the that the latter punched back tries doing loose swings at him, but Chris immediately counters back by jumping back and kicking the dude in the chin. Eddy grabs a pan to fight the one who is provoking him in the moment, and they get stuck in a standstill, as that guy also grabbed one, which results in the two of them having a "swordfight", expect with pans.

Chris remembers that he brought the nunchucks with him, and gets them out, surprising his opponent, which gives Chris the opportunity to strike some hits on him, as he is taking no chances with waiting until he strikes. The bully tries to do a roundhouse kick, but Chris simply jumps back a bit, before jumping forwards and kicking him back, causing the bully to fall.

"Like I haven't seen that before." said Chris, while doing an over-the-shoulder technique with the nunchucks. But that's hardly the end of the small encounter, as the bully tries to tackle him, but this fails horribly, even Chris manages to throw him, and the bully ends up landing on the sink, which does not sound pretty at all.

Over with Double D, Ed and Kevin, it's a bit more complicated, as they are all in the living room. Kevin is the most experienced with this sort of stuff, out of the three involved, so he is trying to keep an eye out for his pals. Taking down these bullies though isn't a big deal for him personally, as while Kevin isn't the strongest, he knows a thing or two about this fighting stuff.

Ed, while a gentle and rather pacifist person, realizes that being nice to these people will NOT be an option, and so, while sure, he is not much of a fighter at all, strength is something that he excels at. That is still an understatement in itself, if you can even believe that. Anyways, Ed is fighting for Double D, as the latter now decided to run away. Or, try at least, as one of the bullies caught him by the leg, tripping him, and falling face first.

"Let's see what you're hiding!" said the dude who tripped Double D, and pinning him down.

Ed sees the situation, and kicks the dude who he was facing away, and charges head first into the guy who pinned Double D down, ramming him through the door, and into a tree outside. The impact was so hard that the tree ends up falling. Okay, that DOES NOT sound pretty at all. Anyways, the dude is likely too injured to keep going, making it 5 versus 5 now.

"YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE MISTER!" yelled Ed, from the top of his lungs. Talk about adding salt to the wound, eh? Well, that takes care of one of the bullies.

Meanwhile, back with Kevin, he notices Nazz approaching, and she is beyond surprised to say the least, asking Kevin, "Kev, the heck is going on!?"

"Don't worry!" responded Kevin, while punching one of his rivals away, "Me and the boys got this under control, it's just a quick problem!"

Nazz quickly backs off from the situation by walking outside of the front door, disappointed that her birthday had taken this route, but she has confidence that her boyfriend and his friends will take care of everything.

Back in the heat of it all, Eddy and his opponent are still facing off in a pan battle, with Eddy scoring a hit, and swinging wildly to get another one, but the opponent decides to charge him, taking the fact that Eddy is at a disadvantage height wise, and knocking him down.

But this will be lost quick, as Chris grabs him off Eddy, before swinging his nunchucks, hitting the dude a couple times, before Chris kicks him away by kicking him in the chest.

"Not gonna happen buddy." commented Chris. "Eddy, you alright man?"

"Yeah, thanks a lot. Without you, I'd be a goner, I owe you." responded Eddy. "But let's keep focus, yeah?"

Chris quickly nods, before he is grabbed from behind by the person he was originally facing, but Chris counters this by elbowing him directly in the face, and doing a punch to the middle of the dude's arm, causing a bit of a scream from him.

Over to Double D, he walked over to where Ed did his marvelous stunt, and said to him, "Thank you Ed, you're a great friend. But don't you think ramming him into the tree was... a bit barbarous?"

"Don't worry Double D, he will recover. Ed is sure of it! We must help Kevin now!" said Ed, in a bit of a panic. Double D goes along with Ed to "assist" Kevin, depending on what state he is in at this current moment.

Meanwhile...

The Kankers and Skylar are almost at the house, and they hear a loud song, in which Skylar recognizes the song, as being "The Mob Rules", by Black Sabbath. She already knows who is responsible for that, and she laughs at the thought of it. Although, it's not all smooth sailing, as none of the girls know about what's going on inside. Marie notices Nazz outside, for some strange reason, and asks her, "Hey, isn't the party started already? Why are you outside?"

"You see... uh, Kevin and your dates are currently fighting off some dudes who caused issues, from what I can tell..." responded Nazz. "Kevin explained it too vaguely for me to understand, but I'm guessing that one of them made fun of someone, and they stepped in to stop it?"

"I gotta see this, can't miss a good fight." said Lee.

May and Marie follow behind, with Skylar and Nazz following behind. They find a spot to blend in with the crowd, so that the four that just arrived don't alert the boys that... they have arrived. To put it more simply, they just don't want to distract them. In mist of the madness, Skylar notices Chris using the same nunchucks that he showed a trick to her with before, and that confirms it to her, that he lied about it. But now is not the time AT ALL for that, as she is actually fairly surprised at what she is witnessing.

Speaking of the fights, Chris and Eddy manage to get the advantage of their side of the conflict, as one of the bullies goes down thanks to some teamwork, with Eddy hitting the dude several times, after Chris had kicked him out to the floor. Knocked out? Maybe not, but he definitely isn't getting back up anytime soon, as he is simply too worn down to keep on going, making it 4 out of 6. The one left is the one who caused all of this by provoking Eddy. and so, they go for him.

Over to Double D, Ed and Kevin, Ed manages to get one of the bullies down with the ramming into the tree maneuver, but he sees Kevin being overwhelmed a bit by the bullies, and Ed, once again, charges into them randomly, managing to break Kevin free.

"Whoa! Thanks Ed, I owe ya." Kevin responded quickly, before he got the hold of one of the bullies, and punches him into the ground, before delivering a hard punch to the face, putting him down, and Kevin goes for the next guy. 3 out of 6 down!

Ed gets a hold of one of the bullies, and decides to do the same tactic. Ram him into the tree. Expect this time, it's more ran into the bottom of the tree, as it fell due to the previous incident. But Ed does not care, as he goes full speed... and manages to send the guy flying directly to the tree, before he ends up falling down. Like with the previous guy, that didn't sound pretty. 2 out of 6 now. Wow!

The only people left are the ones who basically started this entire thing. Over with Chris and Eddy, the guy tries to get Eddy hostage, but this is a failed attempt when he trips over Chris's leg, in which he extended on purpose. He doesn't fall, but Eddy then hits him directly in the face with a frying pan, sending him across the living room. Chris and Eddy share a fist bump in their achievement. 1 out of 6!

With the other group, Kevin gets a hold of the bully who provoked Double D, as that guy was the only one left of the crew, and tells him by the neck, "You're buddies are done for! Get out now!"

Words don't mean anything to this guy clearly, as he pushes Kevin off, and kicks him, which results in Kevin delivering a very hard left hook punch, and pushing him down in response. Just to assure that the bully won't try to do anything else, Kevin grabs him, goes over to the living room, and throws him through the living room window, making sure that the bully won't be in a state to fight, rather... try to take a breather or two. Yikes.

And that's a wrap!

Actually, nope! It would be a wrap, but the dude who provoked Eddy gets back up, and goes to get a chair to throw, but he finds that the chairs nearby are rather too heavy. Chris, annoyed at this point, decides to inhale and exhale... start running towards him... and does a bicycle kick, getting in around 15 kicks, and sending the bully crashing into the same living room window, but he hits a plant while flying through it. Well then. Anyways, the public cheers for the victors, seemingly just because they won, not understanding the context, and so, this conflict is OFFICIALLY now over. Right?

Kevin saw what just occurred, along with his other companions, and claps in response, and says, "Nice dude! Is that everyone taken care of?"

"For me and Eddy yeah, you and your team?" responds Chris, slightly out of breath.

"Heck yeah! Now, that guy provoked Eddy went through the window, right? Let's give him a bit of words." said Kevin, sounding prepared to reach the dude something or two.

Everyone goes outside to have a little chat with the guy that basically started all of this, and Chris speaks first, saying, "If you know what's good for you, you will first, apologize to him for mocking him about his height, then get your friends to say sorry for trying to get the other guy's hat off forcefully, and, I don't say this politely, you and your friends get the hell out."

"This was a birthday party man, and it's for someone special to me, so you better listen, because I'll gladly put you in your place punk." said Kevin.

"Alright man! I get it!" said the bully. "Sorry for the mocking and stuff, wasn't meant to be... serious."

"You know damn well that is a lie! Get you and your pals outta here!" exclaimed Eddy, who was annoyed.

The dude then goes and gets his friends, noting how beat up they were, and is stunned by the fact that two of them were rammed through a tree. So much for all the outnumbering and such eh? Regardless, he gathers them back to the front door.

"Alright, on the behalf of them, sorry hat dude, for them trying to remove it. We're outta here." said the bully, as him and his friends leave the house.

Double D response to the apology was to nod disapprovingly, as he didn't believe it to be sincere at all. Regardless, the conflict is resolved, and the boys are relieved to have fixed it. They all go into the living room, to cool down from the ridiculousness they just got involved in. Not just that, but the speakers have started to play a different song, "Whole Lotta Love", by. Led Zeppelin. Neat.

"Good thing I brought the nunchucks. Man, what the heck was their deal, I'll never know, but I really don't care honestly. Glad they're gone." said Chris.

"You're telling me. We all did well, thanks guys, would've been a lot harder if it was just me here taking care of stuff." Kevin stated.

"Of course man!" responded Eddy. "We all got each other's backs."

"I must admit, it was quite embarrassing, not being able to do much to help out in the conflict." commented Double D.

"Not to worry Double D, Ed has your back!" yells out Ed, making Double D laugh a bit. "None of the evil mob shall take over the very cultured cul-de-sac, for we shall fight until the very end, amigos!"

"The mob may rule sometimes... tonight is not one of those times." said Chris. "Anyways, at least we know who NOT to invite, the next time we have a party, right?"

"I had a bad feeling when they came in, they just sounded of trouble, and look! I was right on that man... and I wish I wasn't at the same time." stated Kevin. "I mean, perhaps I just being dumb about in inviting them."

"Have you even seen those guys before? I surely have not." asked Chris.

Kevin explains, "I've only seen them always be in a large group like they we're tonight, but never done anything aside from mock the teachers when I'd get classes with them. I don't know man, I'm just glad that they are gone."

"Same here Kevin, let's hope that future activities will be... less violence orientated, and more enjoyable, shall we?" said Double D.

"Actually, hang on, where are your dates?" asked Kevin.

"Don't you remember Kevin? Chris had called Skylar to verify where they were, and she told him that they were going to be late." responded Double D.

"I just hope they aren't coming THAT late man, can't wait that long, ya know?" commented Eddy.

"Don't worry man. If anything, them not arriving now is a blessing, as we don't have to drag them into it unintentionally. So, I'm glad that they didn't have to witness it." responded Chris. "Besides, we already made quite the scene, and them not witnessing it makes it a bit less embarrassing. At least for me specifically."

Umm... well...

"Let me guess, they arrived before and we didn't see them?" asked Chris, in a slightly annoyed tone.

"You're right on that one!" yells out Marie.

Chris doesn't even bother looking, facepalming himself HARD, while Ed, Double D, and Eddy look at their respective dates with faces of complete surprise and amazement.

"Why do I always jinx myself!?" yelled Chris to himself.

May goes over and joins Ed, running into him, giving a hug, in which he returns, although slightly reluctant, as he is still very... surprised, you could say, at May's appearance, which consisted of white heels, a yellow shift dress, with a small white tie, along with May's hair being all long and somewhat loose, with her face's skin appearing shiny all around,

Marie goes to where Double D is, and sits right next to him, making him blush heavily, not used to seeing Marie in... let's say a "model-like" way, donning black court shoes, a dark blue smock dress, with her hair still similar to how it is normally, along with her dark lipstick and eyeliner, accompanied by her more... matte appearance on his face's skin.

Over with Eddy and Lee, the former decides to turn his two hands into pointing at her, similar to aiming a gun, as to say that she looks nice, although he does with the most sheepish smile that she's ever seen, taking the appearance of Lee with red heels, a red sheath dress, along with the natural glow of her face as a whole.

Lastly, with Chris and Skylar...

"Hmm... what did you say, 'I _occasionally_ fidget and mess around with them'? Got another bloody stupid lie you wanna say?" asked Skylar in a slightly annoyed tone.

Chris sighs, before talking, saying, "Okay... maybe I wasn't completely honest, but trust me, I have a-"

Chris pauses his speech, because he finally turns and faces Skylar... and to say that he is shocked and stunned is an understatement, witnessing her wearing white brogue shoes, a black mini-dress covering her shoulders, along with her hair still in the normal ponytail style, but her face had a natural matte look, similar to Marie, and having black lipstick and eyeliner, plus as a small bonus, she painted her fingernails white, just so she doesn't appear all dark. Skylar takes a seat next to Chris, and looks a bit disappointed, but also amused at his shocked face.

"Oh. Uh..."

"I'm listening." said Skylar.

"Umm... okay, let's just acknowledge the obvious, you look amazing." stated Chris. "Also, I know... there's a lot to explain, but for that fight that you witnessed... actually, wait a second! How did me, or anyone else not notice you four?!"

"That's a good question Chris." commented Double D. "Marie, when did you and everyone else arrive?"

"We arrived basically when you boys finished those remaining guys off. Great work, taking out the trash." responded Marie, while laughing a bit. "You all know how to defend yourselves, so nice job!"

"Ain't that the truth! You boys sure know to show a good time for your dates!" commented Lee, in a joking manner, while also wrapping her arm around Eddy, making him nervous. "Why would anyone complain with your company, eh?"

Then the girls clap for the boys, causing either feelings of embarrassment, or unless you're Chris, annoyance and shaking of heads.

"This is why I hate fights like that." said Chris, while taking a large exhale. "Anyways, well, either you guys hid in the crowd, or we missed you. Either way... nice job hiding I guess?"

He is interrupted by Skylar, who says, "Don't kick the bucket with your words love."

"_Let's just ignore that 'love_' _comment_..." said Chris in his mind, before saying, "Huh?!"

"Basically, stop stuttering and slurring with your words. Get it now, love?" explained Skylar.

"Oh my god, WOULD YOU QUIT SAYING..." said Chris, but he paused because he realized that he didn't say that to himself. He said it out loud. Oh, ain't that smooth! "... oh crap I said that out loud..."

Everyone nearby couldn't help but burst out in laughter at that mistake, including Skylar, rolling her eyes.

"Did you expect me to communicate through our minds... darling?" said Skylar, as a tease while laughing a bit. "If love isn't a nickname you like honey, I have other names, hmm?"

"I CAN'T TAKE MUCH MORE OF THIS..." said Chris, putting his two hands into his face, plus sounding exhausted and somewhat annoyed.

"Alright, relax, I'll save for it later. For now, mind explaining why that fight occurred?" said Skylar.

"It started when that guy that got sent through the window tried to steal my drink for some reason." explained Eddy. "He failed, but then they started making fun of me for being short, which... why?!"

When Lee hears that, she regrets not getting involved, but at the same time, how could she know the context of everything going on, way after it started?

"I got involved at that point with Ed, and I tried confronting them about their rather vile actions, but unfortunately, word of reason be for naught, as they provoked me about the hat." said Double D.

"Me and Kevin came over, getting annoyed about the whole situation. One of the dudes tried to punch me directly, but that failed. Then, for some god forsaken reason, they decide to cause this large scale brawl. You guys can imagine what happened after." explains Chris. "Honestly, it was the easiest thing of my life, the only problem was keeping an eye out for others, in case they got jumped in by someone. Then again, those guys sucked at considering the circumstances of their situation."

"Anyone get hurt?" asked May, concerned.

"No, I'm positively certain, but also surprised. I cannot say the same thing for the perpetrators. Ed had slammed two of them into the tree outside, resulting in the tree being knocked down." explained Double D. "Ed, can you please put the tree back to normal?"

"Roger!"

Ed gets up and runs over to the tree, about to place it back to normal, and while that's going on, Marie tells Double D, "I didn't see you fight much, muffin..."

"You see Marie, in hindsight I should've taken more action, but I've always been a pacifist." said Double D. "Adding into my dilemma, I never had an interest in fighting in the slightest, nor do I at this current moment in time. So, I always prefer to take the more civil approach to things."

"Really? That will not save you when someone is coming at you, coming to beat you up!" said Eddy, making fun of him a bit.

"Calm down Eddy, he will live at least, haha." commented Chris. "Either way-"

Suddenly, Skylar holds up a "stop" signal with her hand, which surprises Chris slightly, afterwards she says, "You're coming with me outside, now."

"Wait, but what about- ahh!"

Everyone else watches in surprise, wondering what they could be planning to talk about. Well, minus Marie, who has a decent enough clue about what Skylar plans to talk to Chris about. Marie hopes that the information that she gave to her fellow friend doesn't tear up the bond that she shares with Chris, as she never intended for that.

"See ya soon man!" yelled out Eddy, while giving a thumbs up, trying to reassure his friend, and as an attempt to give him at a least of confidence. Try that one more often my good chums, helps more than you know!

Chris gets no room to speak, as he is basically yanked out of the living room to go outside, leaving his jacket there, but still has the nunchucks in his back pocket. What exactly is Skylar mad about, he wonders? He knows that he lied about the nunchucks, or better said, wasn't fully honest about them, but still, what is going on?

"_Hope I'm not in trouble... oh goodness._" said Chris in his mind.

Lucky for him, Ed already finished setting the tree up, back to normal, and so, this will be yet another instance of being under a tree a discussing things. At least it's familiar, right?

Oh boy oh boy! Talk about crazy! Ha!


	54. Chapter 54: Breathing Lightning

Chapter 54: Breathing Lightning

Picking up where we last left off, Skylar had taken Chris outside, as to say that the latter has a good handful of stuff to explain to the former is an understatement. Then again, the latter is cursing himself hard right now, as explaining that he uses the nunchucks in a more... fight-like way, and not just for messing around.

Onwards, they both take a spot next to the tree, that is surprisingly not falling the moment that Chris leans back while standing. Skylar speaks first, saying, "The nunchucks, why did you lie about it man? Why didn't you say anything about you being this... I don't bloody know, fighter or whatever?"

"Okay, well, about the nunchucks, I didn't really think you would want to know ALL the details so suddenly, and... didn't seem like the right time to be honest with you." explains Chris. "As for the fighting stuff, again, not only was it not the right time... I just didn't think you'd care that much, honestly."

Skylar looks surprised, saying, "What? Come on, you and I are great friends, right? You should feel free to tell me anything you want. I do get that it wasn't the right time, I can understand that, but be more honest with me, okay? That's all I ask."

"Yeah. I mean, I'm sure I would've told you about it later, but again, given the context and circumstances of what's going on... I wanted to wait, you know?" responded Chris.

"I understand. Don't be reluctant or whatever to talk about something with me, I'll have an ear open." stated Skylar. "Besides, name me a time where I've zoned out completely during our conversations, hmm?"

"Okay, touché you got me there." responds Chris. "Either way, I'll remember that."

Afterwards, Skylar continues the conversation, bringing up the conflict with Chris and Lee, saying, "While I would say that is the only thing I need to talk you about... well, that's not the case this time. Look, I need to talk you about something important."

"Yeah..?" said Chris, slightly reluctant to hear what this could be. Oh no.

"Marie told me something about... I didn't fully understand it, but you and Lee had a huge fight one time right? Is that true?"

Chris goes silent, not exactly sure how to explain that one. Although, that's not the main reason why he is silent, it's more of the frozen and feeling of shame he got from the fact that Skylar learned about that, something he does not look back in a positive way, at all.

"Hey? You still there?" she asks.

He sighs before clearing his throat, and saying, "Poor judgement. That's all I can say really. Listen, that situation is always something that conflicts me. Like, okay, I know that if I didn't do what I did, the situation we got into would've been much worse, but at the same time, come on... I just went in all, 'fists of fury', or whatever. Look, I'll save you my awkward explanation and say yes, it's true. I regret it, and I want to make amends, as soon as possible..."

"I believe you. Do you want to try to apologize later tonight? The party won't end for a while, so you have plenty of time." said Skylar. "I'll be sure to make sure nothing out of control happens."

"Sure, we can try at least. It doesn't help that, not even a day later basically, we had another fight that, ended SO MUCH WORSE for her!" said Chris in utter frustration. "Like... I don't even know what to say."

"Another fight?! What?!" said Skylar, extremely surprised. "Certainly, this is rubbish! Blimey... okay look, tell me what happened."

"So, according to Marie, as she is the one who indirectly told me about this through a letter, Lee wanted revenge for what i did the previous day. Now, because this wasn't even a day later really, I got ticked off, real damn bad, like, oh my lord... anyways, I prepared myself with plenty of resources, and I even got Rolf to assist me with the whole ordeal. As you might've guessed, another fight broke out, but I also had to fight the other two sisters aswell, and I knew already that if I beat them up badly, Double D would've been extremely disappointed with me. For what occurred, well, I took care of Marie and May fine, but Lee was damn persistent, to say the least. Which lead me to think, it's time to go overkill! Is it hard to guess what I did? Excessive blows, bad judgement... horrible decision making... yeah." explained Chris. "The worst part for Lee was that she had to miss a day of school to recover, and I honestly felt bad. Too bad at the time of the encounter, I... don't know what happened, but I got just aggravated with everyone. Luckily nothing huge, but it made Eddy want a conversation about everything, more specifically my aggressive attitude, and that's all about the fight."

After Chris explains the entire story to Skylar, he sits down next to the tree, facepalming at himself, but Skylar kneels next to him, puts a hand on his shoulder and says, in a calm voice compared to normal, "Listen, you are not perfect man. Neither am I. Or Ed, Double D, Eddy, May, Marie, May, you get my point? You can make this up, and I'll help you with it. You aren't alone okay? You have no reason to keep on knackering yourself."

"You don't get it, I could've taken a more mature approach in comparison to what I did, but no! I went stupid!" responded Chris, still frustrated. "There is literally no reason for why I didn't think before doing what I did."

"That's in the past. Focus on this current moment in time. I don't know much about training to be a fighter or whatever, but your skills took years to get right? You must've been very chuffed, or proud, better said, when you learned it well." stated Skylar. "Whoever taught them to you gave them in the hope that you could do more good than bad, yeah? You can do good, I've seen it, and I'm more than positive you've done it before. Trust yourself, and me, okay?"

"But... you don't get it." said Chris. "I'll tell you right now, in the place where I got my training, one of the things they teach you is NEVER use your teachings in a manner that is harmful, but in the event you absolutely must, do it. I failed that rule, not once, but twice, and it doesn't help either that I did it worse the second time."

"I don't know how your teacher was, but don't you think they would've encouraged you to fix the mistakes? You can, don't think you're irredeemable. You've done good tonight alone, getting rid of those people who kept bugging your friends." responds Skylar. "Besides... you know it was bad. You admitted it, and this is a good thing."

In order to try and reassure him more, Skylar grabs his hand with both of hers, and smiles a bit towards him, making him smile a bit at the sight of the black-haired beauty, as to him, it's rather difficult not to ain't it?

"I know I said this before, but... you really look beautiful tonight. Also, thanks, I feel a bit better, but... not a hundred percent." said Chris while taking a deep breath.

"I'll make sure you're a hundred percent. You are absolutely not a bad lad, remember that, you just made mistakes, but again, you CAN fix them." responds Skylar, making Chris exhale a bit to relax.

"Thanks, again. Now that it crosses my mind, I can tell you some stories of my time training, if you want." commented Chris, sounding a lot more relaxed.

"Hold that thought." responds Skylar, returning to her normal voice. "Is it cool if I find us some chairs and heck, a drink or two? I don't want us here with bugger all to eat or however you wish to spin it."

"Sure, I'd like that. Do you need any help or you'll be cool?" asked Chris.

"Nah, I'm sure I'll be fine. By the way, thanks for the compliments, I really appreciate it." responded Skylar. "Stay here, I'll get us some stuff. While I doubt that they'll have anything posh, do you want anything else like snacks, nosh or..?"

"No it's fine, a drink will be okay for me. Also, what the heck is nosh and posh?" responds Chris.

"It means food and fancy, apologies, you don't know those terms yet. Alright then, again, stay here, and we'll hang out here... like some stupid bloody couple celebrating their honeymoon." said Skylar, while smirking a bit.

"Well... okay I suppose, be quick!" responded Chris.

They both flash each the "devil horns" symbol, a symbol that is common among people who like heavy metal. Either way, Skylar runs to the kitchen to get two drinks, and she will get the chairs once she gets the drinks, one thing at a time!

Back with the Eds and Kankers, Kevin has departed the group, in order to have a conversation with Nazz. As far as it goes for what's going on, May and Ed are currently having a conversation about comic books, which was a topic the latter brought up to teach the former about.

"So yeah May, they had this incredible battle, determining the entire destiny of the universe!" said Ed, explaining the plot to a specific movie that was an adaptation of a comic book "That battle was made so well! It felt as if it was real!"

In reality, the movie had the production value of your average lunch, plus maybe a drink or two after with your companions. But to Ed, it looked like the best thing ever. For now anyways, haha!

"Hmm, do you wish to watch it... sometime?" asked May, slightly hesitant. "I would like to see it with you, maybe tomorrow?"

Ed thought about it for a second, before saying, in a voice that sounded like he was declaring battle, "Tomorrow, with me, we shall see it! As one!"

May gets excited about this, although she tries to appear with just a smile, as she doesn't want to get overly excited. At least not yet, she'll save it for when she's more certain of the circumstances.

Onto Double D and Marie, what's their current topic? Well, they are currently discussing things about the party, and the former is explaining in more detail what occurred during the fight before the latter arrived and witnessed the last quarter of the fight basically.

"After Chris had kicked him into the window, we all grouped together near his surroundings, and we had explained to him that if he had not left at that very moment, we would teach him another lesson, so to speak." said Double D. "Luckily, he acted reasonable at last, and gathered his companions and promptly excused themselves from here, along with giving the most insincere apology I've ever received."

"Why did you make them leave?!" asked Marie, slightly annoyed and disappointed. "I would've taught him a nice lesson not to bother ya!"

"By, 'nice lesson', that means giving them a beating in the same vain that you would do us sometimes?" guessed Double D, with an eyebrow raised.

"Of course!" responded Marie, laughing slightly. "I'm glad those jerks didn't get your hat off."

"Marie, well..." stated Double D. "I would like to talk to you in private, if that's alright with you."

"Sure, but I don't know of any places where there can only be two of us." said Marie. "Shall we go take a look?"

Marie and Double D both get up in order to go find a place to chat privately, with Lee saying, "Have fun you two!", seemingly out of the blue. That annoys Marie a bit, but she dismiss it before starting her search. Although, she decides to pause it, as she notices Skylar getting some stuff from the fridge, and Marie would like to talk to her, just to see what's going on.

"Stay here a quick second, I'm going to talk to her, see how it is going with her." Marie tells Double D, the latter of which gives a thumbs up as a response.

So, Marie goes over to Skylar, who doesn't notice her yet, and taps her on the shoulder, then saying, "Everything good with him?"

"Yeah. I think... okay, bollocks, I KNOW that he actually feels bad about this whole kerfuffle, he told me directly. Heck, he would want to apologize to your sister later." explained Skylar. "Trust me, he ain't telling some pork pies either, or lies, should I say."

"I'll never understand those words you use. But I'm surprised. Alright, we will talk later, but just... I guess be careful with how he could act!" whispered Marie to Skylar, which makes the latter laugh loudly.

"Marie, mate, I appreciate the concern and all, but don't lose the plot! I am positively certain this won't go all to pot, or get dodgy in someway." responds Skylar. "I can tell when a bloke is faking or not. He isn't."

"I hope you're right. Hopefully he can understand you better than I can with those odd terms. Good luck." said Marie, in which Skylar shakes her head as to say yes, after which Marie leaves to join back with Double D, and the two of them proceed upstairs, and find a room surprisingly not being used by anyone, having a couch and a table with two chairs. The reason as to why there were 0 people was due to there being another room upstairs being used for people who would rather be in a more... toned down environment, so to say. Plus, the room that the two found was closed. Either way, Marie goes in, while Double D goes in and closes, plus locks the door, in order to give themselves more privacy.

"So, whatcha want to talk about cutie?" asked Marie, after which they both take a seat on the couch.

"Marie, there is a topic I wished to have discussed with you more before, but many things had gotten in the way unfortunately." explains Double D. "Aside from those circumstances, the main thing I wished to ask before was... well, I'm uncertain as to how to ask this, but it related to your mother."

"What do you want to know about her?" stated Marie, having a serious tone.

"Have you, or any of your sisters, had a good connection with her?" asked Double D.

"No." responded Marie, before saying, "Honestly, as much as we might've pretended like we did... it just was so little talk about real things, while she fed us, misogynistic, as you would put it, things about men. I can't even remember the last time May, Lee or myself had an actual conversation with her. Heck, Lee one time got into a bad argument with her over something, to the point where she started to call mom 'Jane', instead of mom."

"I presume that Jane is the actual name of your mother?" asked Double D.

"Right you are." responds Marie. "But as I was saying, mom tries her best to provide us with the basic stuff, and I can respect that all the time, but she never really bothers to talk to us more. I've honestly talked to you more than I have her about my father, my sisters, and much more."

Double D felt a chill up his spine when he heard that, as he couldn't believe that Marie was seemingly trusting a non-family member more than her actual family. At this point, it's becoming a bit of a concern for him personally, but regardless of that, he tells her...

"Marie, I sincerely apologize. When family bonds don't turn out for the positive direction, it usually results in lackluster terms with the bond shared among the same bloodline."

After he had said that, he noticed Marie getting emotional, and decides to go over and hug her, to comfort her a bit. One thing that Double D concludes is that he would like to attempt to assist her in perhaps reconnecting with her family someday, but he cannot predict how effective it will be at the end of the day. Regardless, after around 4 minutes of a hug, Marie mentions to Double D, "Do you recall that one time where you and your friends made a scam that made everyone go crazy?"

"Marie, that narrows the list down very little. Could you please be more specific?" responded Double D.

"It was something where Eddy tried to pretend like it was still summer by replacing everyone's calendars or whatever, and also coloring all the leaves orange. You found out about it, and then it quickly went downhill for you." explained Marie. "Everyone had lost their minds about getting prepared and everything, but then that farmer guy rammed down your door with some axe thing, trashing your home. I wish I could've helped ya then."

"Ahh... yes now I recall it. Honestly, did Eddy think that was going to work? The administration of the school system would've called our parents to ask why we weren't showing up to our classes! Aside from the fact that Eddy did excessive makeovers to the cul-de-sac, he was still groggy about going back, to the point where he built this entire water slide, in a last ditch attempt to pretend it was still summer. The slide fell apart aswell." said Double D, sharing a laugh with Marie.

"Speaking of school... remember what occurred there?" said Marie with a smile that looked very mischievous, to say the least:

"Why, how can I forget... the infamous blackmail incident that you forced me into doing." responded Double D, rolling his eyes, slightly annoyed at that memory.

"I hope you're happy that you are with me because of actual love, not because I forced you to!" stated Marie.

"Of that, I can confirm. It's much more pleasant and... relaxing, I shall say, without blackmail." said Double D. "It's too bad for you that the same day that you and your sisters tried to blackmail us and make up the story of us being in relationships with you, it was also the same day where everyone that we recognize knew that it was indeed, all fabricated."

"We should've done more to secure the money, as Eddy would put it." responded Marie. "Speaking of him, how do you think he is handing himself with Lee?"

"I am positive that he is doing just fine. After all, I've noticed that they have seemingly toned down their... how to put it... bond of demonizing each other, and decided to bury the hatchet." stated Double D.

"I'm just hoping that Lee doesn't get too rough on Eddy." said Marie. "I mean, remember what she did in the pit? Honestly, that disturbed me. Not saying that she is going to do it tonight, but I'm just hoping she won't freaking scare off her man with what her secret intentions could be. At least he isn't in danger of her beating him up of anything."

"Indeed Marie. I might aswell mention that May and Ed have been sharing a bond of friendship that is flourishing quite well. To expand on that a bit more, they both share seemingly similar interests, and play the roles of the more funny person for their respective groups." explains Double D.

"Good for May!" stated Marie. "I'm happy for her. Although, I don't think that she is going to get with him tonight, but at least he's weird fear of girls is gone."

"About that, I'm positive that the only female that has ever really tried to get to Ed in a more romantic manner, so to say, is May, and that experience seemingly detracted Ed from wanting any female friends that had a bigger bond. Although, except for Nazz." said Double D.

"Him and Nazz? Ugh, that doesn't sound right. Oh yeah, I might've given a reason for Skylar to talk to Chris tonight." Marie told Double D, the latter of which was surprised.

"What could you have given to her that made her need a conversation with him?" asked Double D.

"I told her about the fight that Chris and Lee had in the pit. I told her because when she was at our trailer, she asked about why it seemed like they have a feud, and I explained the entire story and situation behind it." explains Marie. "All she told me was that he lied about the nunchucks or something, saying that he didn't use them for fighting or whatever, and that's all. I have no idea what they are talking about right now. Skylar did tell me that Chris regrets doing that fight, which surprised me to tell you the truth."

"Come now Marie! While yes, Chris's actions were rather too violent and aggressive, he has rarely, if ever, demonstrated pride in his actions." responded Double D. "As for the conversation with the both of them, hopefully they are still sharing their rather friendly bond, as the two of them have seemingly connected well."

"I guess you're right. Let's hope they stay that way." said Marie.

Speaking of which...

Back to Chris and Skylar, the latter has managed to get their drinks, but unfortunately, she was unable to find any free chairs, and ultimately decided to just return to the former with just the drinks, hoping he wouldn't mind the absence of something to sit on, and sitting up against the tree.

"You couldn't find any?" he asked.

"No, sorry, all were taken. I still got the drinks, so we're still fine." she responded. "But forget all of that, how did you get into that fighting stuff, which, let me just say, is crazy and awesome."

Chris laughs at that statement, before explaining yet again the story of how he saw his dad do some moves, thought it was cool-looking, was given the opportunity to learn, and the rest is history! He also added in the details of how his dad learned before himself, and how it seems like it's been a little bit of a tradition.

"I'm not gonna pretend and act like it was all easy... because that's complete rubbish, as you would say." said Chris. "Sometimes learning certain things would be so stressful to get the position correctly, and man, it would just be difficult. I'll tell ya right now, learning that kick move, which is commonly known as the bicycle kick, might seem simple, but it's just, NO, not at all."

"I can see that. Look on the bright side, you aced it completely, and look at you now! You're great with a good handful of moves!" commented Skylar.

"Thanks. It's a good skill to have. When you're not abusing it of course, because the teacher would ask the purpose of why we wanted to learn, and if your reason had malicious intent, you can be certain the next thing that they saw was the door." said Chris, sharing a laugh with Skylar.

"I can imagine it." stated Skylar.

Chris takes a sip of his drink, before he asks her, "So, those terms you've been using, what's up with that?"

"What's that?" asked Skylar.

"You know, the terms I've been hearing you say recently? You've never used them before, or if you have, I haven't noticed. Like, at all." explained Chris.

"Oh yeah. Well, you see..." said Skylar, after which she takes a sip herself. "Not many people here understand those terms. Like, you literally had no bloody idea what nosh or posh meant. Which is okay, don't trouble yourself all about it, but you see my point? I can switch back and forth between using those terms and ones which you can understand better, but it's funny to see people's reactions when I use 'pork pies', for example."

Chris adopts a face of confusion at the "pork pies" term, and Skylar chuckles a bit, knowing that he is confused at the sound of that.

"You just proved my point, judging by your gobsmacked expressions, haha. By the way, that means lies, just so ya know." stated Skylar.

"What?!" Chris said confused. "Actually... wait, doesn't pork pies rhyme with lies? Ohhh... now it makes sense."

"See! You got it. But yeah, some are easier to explain than others, others are more difficult, and sometimes you'll get it in an instant." explains Skylar. "For example... ah! Got it! Chris, your current appearance right now is quite blinding tonight."

Never having heard that used before, Chris is currently trying to figuring out if what she said was either an insult or a compliment.

"I don't think I get this one. Damn." said Chris. "Is it a... compliment? Or a joking insult?"

"It's supposed to mean great or excellent, so it's one hundred percent a compliment." responds Skylar, while smirking a bit. "I wonder if you saw what I just did."

"Yeah, I do." said Chris, laughing at the fact that she just complimented him in a rather smooth manner. "Thanks, by the way."

The two of them take sips of their respective drinks, before Skylar decides to ask something more for fun. Or, at least it will be for her.

"So... may I ask, who was the person you told me you had feelings for, so to say, before? Because I might know who it is." she asks.

The moment that Chris heard that, a hint of embarrassment runs over him, because he already knows, or at least has a idea of where this will be going. Oh joy.

"Well... umm, it's hard to explain but-"

"I already know now." said Skylar.

"Okay fine! You! It's you, okay? Happy!?" exclaimed Chris, in a nervous manner.

Skylar's response was just to simply laugh at his ridiculous confession, that she knew all along.

"Told ya I knew. It wasn't very hard either. From your rather reluctant and obvious bollocks answer at school you told me one time, the fact that you asked me to this party, and the fact that you and I have discussed many personal things." explains Skylar.

"You are too smart sometimes, and that honestly scares me." said Chris, jokingly. "But dang, you've really stacked all of this against me, hmm?"

"That's why I tell you to be honest. Because if you aren't... I'll find out." said Skylar, with the last three words said in a seductive tone.

"Okay okay, I get it. Although, what else spoiled it for you?" asks Chris.

"Let's see, the fact that you seemingly get happy when we share a hug most of time, you also become that way when we hang out, you used some of your time to talk to me about something private at school one time, you also tend to lose the plot sometimes when we talk, like back with our friends." explained Skylar. "Is there anything else? Hmm... oh yeah! Your compliments. I appreciate it, don't get me wrong, but that's another reason."

"_How in the hell will I be able to surprise her when she's being all detective here?!" _Chris told himself, before responding to Skylar, saying, "To say that you've collected lots of evidence is... rather an understatement. I have a mix of emotions right now, my god."

"Care to share?" asks Skylar.

"Well, surprised for one, shocked, of course, but I guess also I'm just wondering how you got everything piece by piece, and then, there ya go, the whole truth." stated Chris.

"Sometimes it was easy." said Skylar. "Other times, like with the fact that you get happy sometimes, it took a bit of thinking."

Skylar clears her throat before saying something important that she feels she needs to say, "Let me let you know that I'm not trying to embarrass you or whatever, I'm merely just saying that... well, I knew."

"So... does that much I should ask, 'the question'?" stated Chris. However, he immediately regrets spitting those words out, but too late!

"What? You and I? Hmm?" responds Skylar, with curiosity.

Before he gives his answer, he thinks about it for a bit. The roadblock that Chris is running into is, to him, he doesn't feel like he knows much about Skylar yet to make a full conclusion. But at the same time, the two of them have shared some great moments, including this one. Which route does he take? Sure, at this current moment in time, it feels like it's the perfect atmosphere and everything, but he would much rather not run into a relationship that he feels is rather rushed. Instead of, "proposing" the question, he instead decides to explain it to Skylar.

"Okay, there's a bit of a problem I have however."

Skylar looks surprised, saying, "What's wrong?"

"Listen, oh man... this is hard to say, but let me just say this. I obviously really like you, you're honestly fun to hangout with anytime, and you obviously look incredible tonight. The problem is not with you at all." explains Chris. "The problem I have is that, I feel like don't know much about each other to really connect on a bigger basis. Like, you've only met my mom, but I don't think I've met a single one of your parents."

"Are you worried about their approval?" asked Skylar. "Because relax, they won't be judgmental about it, as long as you're not doing anything dodgy. Then again, if you were, I would try to help you and figure what's wrong, but if you refuse then... yeah."

"No it's not that, but that's good to know. Look! I can't even..."

Chris shrugs, before ultimately pausing to calm himself down, as he realizes that he is going all over the place, and not explaining himself well at all. Skylar puts her hand on his shoulder before she says, "If you aren't comfortable with it yet, that's fine. If you want to wait a bit more, that's completely fine, as I understand. I will gladly take some more time for us to get to know each other much better until you are comfortable, as that's what most important to me."

Well, isn't that rather helpful! The relief that Chris felt was quite a lot, as Skylar out into words what he couldn't. He takes a deep breath before saying, "Yeah. That's fine. Again, don't twist this as me saying like, I hate you, you're disgusting, or vice versa."

"Of course not silly. If that was the case I would've hit you relentlessly." responded Skylar. "Just kidding with ya. Anyways, so, take more time it is then?"

"Yeah."

The two of them shake hands to agree on it, but Skylar has a bit of a gift in mind that's similar to what they just talked about, but different at the same time. Sounds interesting, eh?

"I actually have a bit of a gift for you. Can you guess it?" she stated.

"Oh no." responds Chris. "I have no clue! Is it some metal shirt?"

"That wouldn't be a bad gift honestly, but that's wrong. Hmm... okay, close your eyes." said Skylar.

"Okay, NO. I do not like where this is going at all." stated Chris.

"You know what? Nevermind. I'll just show you." said Skylar, before showing the gift.

And what's this gift? Well, it's the most sudden kiss of the century! The feeling that Chris got felt like he got locked in place, not knowing what just occurred. Even though, that's completely obvious.

"_You gotta be kidding me... well, I might as well..." _said Chris, before giving it back after 3 seconds. After around 7 more seconds, they break it and their expressions are varied, to say the least. If you're Chris, your face is probably flat, but on the inside, it feels like you've just flat out stopped. If you're Skylar, your face is probably appearing with a bit of a smile, but on the inside, you're normal.

"You look rather flabbergasted." commented Skylar.

"Ah... well, thanks for that. I don't really know what to say, to tell ya the truth." stated Chris. "It was... nice I guess you could say?"

"I'll take it as a compliment. Anyways, don't worry, that's not meant in a way to pressure you into doing the relationship, or whatever other bollocks. Remember, when you're all comfortable with it, that's when I'm ready to make official. After all, I would like to get to know you better too, ya know?" responds Skylar.

"That's good to know. Well, maybe sometime after school, or on the weekend, we can hangout at my place, and I can actually you show a special item that I received from a tournament that I participated in for my martial arts training." said Chris.

"Oh, really? What is it?" said Skylar, with curiosity.

"It's a rather VERY rare nunchuck. Like, I can't explain it right now, but I'll explain it better once I show it to you." said Chris. "It's a long story, but I can try to shorten it, so that it isn't ridiculously filled with stuff that might not make sense to you."

"Sound great! Count me in! I don't know if tomorrow works, but I'll try okay? But, tomorrow, I would like you to meet my parents, as they always drop me off, and pick me up from school. I'm sure they'll be fine with you, just try not to be a wanker or something." stated Skylar.

"I assume that means don't be stupid? But no worries, I gotcha." responded Chris.

The two of them shared a toast with their drinks, as a way to agree on the plans that they just laid out.

"It's funny to me how, when we first met, you honestly caught my attention from the fact that you liked metal and everything. Now look at this." stated Chris.

"I honestly had the same feeling about you. I'm glad it's turned the way it has though. Sitting under here, like I mentioned before, some couple on a stupid honeymoon." responded Skylar. "Never would I imagine going from how we met, to helping you when you took an unexpected fall and fell unconscious. Which reminds me, are you feeling okay still?"

"Yeah. Nothing alarming has happened yet, and thank goodness. Certainly don't want my senses to be dulled, especially not in the presence of some great company. You know?" said Chris, sharing another laugh with her.

"That's good to hear, also, nice one. I must say also, your mom is a good person, especially for the fact that she allowed me to help you out." commented Skylar.

"It helped you out, the fact that you already met her before." said Chris. "But yeah, my mom has always appreciated my friends, as she values connections as much as I do. So, if you need a place to stay if something went south for you, we will always welcome you with open arms."

"Aww, thanks. Yeah, your mom cares for you, as any good mother would, so that's why I like her. Where is your dad though?" asks Skylar.

"He is off something doing in another place, FAR away from here. He is somewhat similar to my mom, expect he can be more comedic, so expect a handful of jokes." explains Chris.

Skylar was going to take a sip of her drink, but she realizes that she is out. Chris also finishes up his drink, and puts it down, noting that he also finished his.

"Aw damn. You want me to get us a refill?" asks Skylar.

"Sure, I would appreciate that. I'll be here, so no worries on this side." responded Chris, chuckling a bit.

"Gotcha. Be back in a minute!" said Skylar.

Alone with his thoughts, Chris is honestly overwhelmed, as he like he was flying high, over the mountain, and onwards to the moon! He didn't exactly have a plan for what specifically he was going to do in the party, a mistake on his part, but he is honestly glad with how it turned out, as he managed to resolve a handful of things. Well, expect one he is missing, but for now, he is more just surprised still, at the surprise kiss. Complaining? No. But surprised, oh you can bet!

While Skylar gets the drinks, she thinks that she planned everything well for the most part. To her, the reveal about Chris taking a... let's say, "larger liking", to her wasn't really that surprising, considering all the evidence she picked up throughout the times that they would have conversations. Regardless, she is currently happy with how it's going, and drama is something she doubts will be a roadblock, so to say.

Back with Double D and Marie, the two of them have been discussing the events that led into where they are now. Hmm, deja vu?

"Man, I can't believe I did all of that. Is being smart all a girl needs to get you?" asks Marie in a teasing tone.

"I wouldn't put it as simple as that Marie." said Double D. "You see, in a relationship, what I find to be the most important is first off, the bond shared among the person. Secondly, I also value the connection and enjoyment of the person's presence, which is to say that I should most logically enjoy the company of that person. For the last notable aspect, communication about thing is very much the most important part for myself personally. You can say that you've met these requirements yourself Marie."

Marie could only laugh a bit at the last statement, before saying herself, "Double D! Do you really think I don't know that?!"

"Okay... maybe a bad string of words I used there, but you understand. Regardless, I must say, the 'Marie' of the past wouldn't be meeting any of those, especially not the second one." stated Double D.

"Aw, you're a heartbreaker!" responded Marie, making Double D a bit shy. "I'm just kidding, but you honestly wouldn't even be wrong. I mean, what kinda person am I making you give me a piggyback ride, and have you fall?"

"Don't really have a comment on that one." said Double D, chuckling a bit, after which Marie pecks him on the cheek.

"You know, what's going on at the living room? I wonder if May and Ed were still getting along..." asks Marie.

"I'm positive they are. After all, Ed is noted for his welcoming of friends, old or new." responds Double D.

That is actually a good question Marie!


	55. Chapter 55: Rainbow In The Dark

Chapter 55: Rainbow In The Dark

Back in the living room, over with Ed, May, Eddy, and Lee, all four of them having been rather normal conversations, with the music of the party blasting at a volume that's loud, but they can still hear each other. On Ed and May's side, the latter brought up how it seemed odd that one time, Double D had literally disintegrated into dust when Ed's "lucky cheese", had fallen on top of Double D. Huh. Very strange indeed.

"How did he recover from it?" asked May, slightly confused on the rather strange context.

"It might have been magic, because he came back to his usual self mere moments later." said Ed, in a tone which sounded like he was telling a mystery. "We had to get rid of Sheldon sadly, but we replaced with Angus, the lucky fish! He is at my home right now, but he gives me very great luck!"

May gets curious as to what examples Ed has that show the "luck" that fish he mentioned gave him, so she says, "When has that... fish, given you luck?"

"Oh oh! When we were playing that song in our cafeteria that one time, Angus was there in my pocket, giving me the power and skill to perform it! He also helped in freeing you and your sisters from the evil mind control of, uh, PSA?" said Ed, sounding a bit confused at the end.

What Ed meant to say was PDA, but regardless, May laughs a bit at that rather silly statement, however Eddy overhears what Ed just said and couldn't help but shrug in a frustrated way.

"Please don't tell me he is going to ramble on about that stupid mind control story." stated Eddy.

"Why do you care?" asked Lee, not understanding the context of the situation.

"It's because mind control is the reason why he thinks that you guys did what you did before. At least it helps him get over his fear, but man! Talk about stupid." explains Eddy. "But it seems he is enjoying himself with your sister, which is more than I can say for what I expected to see, tell ya the truth."

Lee laughs a bit, before stating, "Oh, I expected less from you hun."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Eddy, with a hint of annoyance.

"I didn't expect you to be here even, let alone all dressed up. You do know how to impress." said Lee with a chuckle, making Eddy slightly nervous.

"Why do you think I sang that song that one time? Also, I suppose you know how to impress too, looking all, you know? Looking all beautiful and all..." responds Eddy.

You know the phrase, "easier said than done"? This is something that applies to Eddy at this current moment, as sure, he knew that he had to compliment and act all confident with Lee. While he might've known to do that, doing it seemed rather awkward for him, really only complimenting indirectly, not directly, and the whole confidence thing he expected to just happen normally. But he knows that backing out now is the worst idea he could have brought up yet, as he's too far in at this point.

Eddy is broken out of his thoughts when Lee asks a question that will be anything but easy to answer, which is, "I hear that you tried to get with someone from school. Is that correct, hmmm?"

Oh my!

"Uh, no?!" responded Eddy. "Who the heck did you get that from?"

"Really little man? Okay, so if I ask your friends if you tried to date someone, they will say no?" stated Lee.

Well, that certainly didn't help manners! Eddy feels like he is going in a panic, as he has no clue how Lee will react to that, as she has been, to say the least, very insistent on being with him. Having no choice, as he doesn't want her to interrupt his friends and their partners, especially if one of them were to have a moment... oh yeah, that would be embarrassing.

"NO! Stop! Okay okay, it's true okay!?" yelled out Eddy, in order to not let Lee go and do what she said. "But I promise, nothing big even happened!"

Lee couldn't help but laugh at Eddy's overly exaggerated and ridiculous response, but she is interested however in learning what happened. Surprisingly, she doesn't seem to be angry about it. Then again, it could be because whoever Eddy might've given a shot, he isn't with currently.

"Oh? Why don't ya tell me what happened then, shouldn't be hard for you, right?" asks Lee.

For around 5 minutes, Eddy tells Lee the story of how Violet, the girl who approached him for a date, asked him out basically, and he even tells her the many very embarrassing mistakes that he did during it, which disappoints Lee beyond belief, but at the same time, she hasn't done much better herself, so she doesn't judge... much. Eddy also brings up how Chris explained to him that it was "never going to work out", between him and Violet, so that sort of relieved him from the situation.

"I'm glad I took his advice about it. I must say, although the situation or whatever that I asked you out in to this party weren't the best, I like a lot better than with that other girl." said Eddy.

"I bet. But Eddy, come on now! Did you really think a sudden kiss, or observation like you were doing was gonna swoon her?" responded Lee with a laugh. "Did what I did not teach you anything? I don't remember you loving the kisses I gave when we were more younger!"

Lee DOES bring up a good point, considering Eddy always hated when she would constantly bother him with romance drivel, so to say, so why would he do similar things?

"Okay, that's true. Ugh, kinda wish I could've said sorry." said Eddy, with a slight frown.

"Don't worry about her, I doubt she would've appreciated you. Like I do right now." stated Lee, with a slight grin, making Eddy blush slightly.

"Thanks. That actually reminds me about something I wanna ask ya." stated Eddy. "Are ya cool with Double D and Marie being... ya know?"

Lee sighs, before responding, "As long as Marie is fine with it, that's what is important."

"Wait... really?" said Eddy, surprised.

"Yeah, I mean, don't be acting like you're the only one who convinced me. All of the drama and crap going on between me and everyone was honestly becoming too much for me. So, I just decided that if Marie is okay with being with your nerdy science friend, it's all her choice. Besides, they seem happy with each other, wouldn't ya say?" explained Lee.

"Yeah, you're right." responds Eddy. "Although man, the idea of them together sounds just... too unreal. But it's their choice, as you say."

"Telling me eh? I have no clue why Marie even swooned over him." stated Lee.

"I think I might know why." said Eddy, with a grin. "It's because Double D can't exactly defend himself from her, now can't he?"

Lee couldn't help but share a laugh with Eddy at that rather true statement, afterwards saying, "You ain't wrong... but what about you?"

Eddy's laughing came to a record-screeching halt, as the only way he can "defend" himself, so to say, is only through verbal communication. Physically, he was helpless against Lee, especially as whenever they would clash, he would NEVER win, as demonstrated when they wrestled each other one time, the fight at the pit fairly recently, and many other instances. As far as Eddy can recall, he has only "won", so to say, one time, when he told her and her sisters to get away from Double D, due to him getting badly hurt already, and Eddy didn't want more of it to keep on going.

"Hey! I know some tricks!" fired back Eddy, but he reluctantly follows up with, "I've got my friends to help me out!"

"Where were they, oh I don't know, when we caught you in the trailer? Huh?" teased Lee, putting Eddy in a rather inconvenient position.

"They were busy! They can't be there all the time!" responded Eddy, harshly, but that doesn't exactly help matters.

"Interesting eh? I guess you're not capable of defending yourself after all." stated Lee, snickering a bit after saying that.

Of course, Lee is only saying this a joke, not intending to beat up Eddy or anything, it's more so that he doesn't get up on this "king" feeling he might have.

"Alright, maybe I'm not much better, but what about the others, hmm?" asks Eddy.

"Why do you care? It's not like we are setting up some situation where they start to hate each other. At least that's what I hope none of your friends are doing, especially Mr. Kicks or whatever." explains Lee.

"Who are you talking about? Chris?" said Eddy, not understanding who she was talking about with the Mr. Kicks nickname. Lee nods her head as to say yes, before Eddy raises an eyebrow and remembers something very important. Lee and Chris are still not really on good terms. Neutral? Perhaps, but certainly not friendly levels. Due to these circumstances, Eddy decides to vouch for his friend a bit.

"I mean, I don't think he's going to be doing that, especially not with the girl he clearly loves or whatever, that would be stupid beyond stupid." responded Eddy. "Besides, he isn't always looking for fights. He seems to be more of a pacifist, as Double D would say, kind of guy."

"You sure about that?" said Lee, in a slightly annoyed tone, making Eddy concerned.

"Yeah! Besides, recently, he's been taking a less aggressive approach, especially after that incident with you and your sisters. He honestly scared me once we left, as he seemed dark or however you wanna say it. When I talked to him, he cooled down some, but ever since then, he hasn't exactly been trying to be aggressive. I mean, heck, he disappeared with Skylar off to, god knows where!" explained Eddy.

Lee thinks about it, and it's true. It's been a while since Chris took an approach of extreme aggression, not even taking it when she was confronted at her own trailer. So, there seems to be potential for a resolve of the tension they've been having. Right?

"That's good to hear I guess." responds Lee, in a weak tone.

This annoys Eddy, as at this point, he doesn't care if Lee and Chris are best pals or whatever, he just wants them to never cause trouble. So, he tells her...

"Listen. I know it's not easy or whatever to try to resolve this, but I'll use myself and you as an example! I honestly would've never imagined me and you being here, right now man!" said Eddy. "I mean, come on! You and I NEVER have conversations! But what happened once I decided to stop this once for and all, and then you agreed aswell?"

"We are now having conversations and stuff. What's your point Eddy?" asked Lee.

"My point is, just stop this conflict or whatever with him, as it's not helping, at all! Look, I'm sure that he'll be up to talk, but will you?" stated Eddy.

Hmm... why does this seem so familiar? If only Eddy and Lee knew what occurred a while ago with Chris and Skylar, as this would be the biggest convenience in existence! Anyways, Lee tells Eddy...

"Fine. If he doesn't want to, I don't care. Just saying."

"Don't worry about it, it will be fine, I'm sure he will want to talk to all, he is a rather... problem-solving guy or however you want to say that." said Eddy.

"Speaking of him, how do you think it's going with him and Skylar?" asks Lee.

"I don't know. Either they are having a large conversation about heavy metal, something serious, or I think Skylar has taken Chris into some more heated territory." said Eddy, with a laugh at the end, making Lee chuckle a bit.

"Eddy! Where are Double D and Chris right now?" asked Ed, across from the other couch.

"They are both with their dates, did you not pay attention when they both left?" responded Eddy, slightly annoyed by Ed's random intermission. Truth be told, the reason why Ed had asked that was because he didn't notice when Chris and Double D had left, as he was basically focused on the fact that he was with May at this current moment.

"Thanks Eddy! I wanted to ask him something, but he isn't here!" said Ed towards Eddy, before returning his attention back to May. "As I was saying, Chris had showed me and my pals some cool music one time, which resulted in Eddy getting the idea to play that one song on stage!"

"What song did you guys play again?" asks May, not remembering what the song was.

"Uh... I think it had something to do with grills? Or, was it tails?" said Ed, not sure himself either what the song was, even though he was the one who asked what the song they performed was about.

"Oh oh! I remember! As my pals told me, it's the song about watching some pretty ladies do dances!"

Ain't that so sudden? Anyways, May tries to hold in her laughter, as she has an idea of the _actual _meaning of the song could be, but Ed probably wouldn't even understand it, and even then, he was told the meaning in a very toned down way.

"You know Ed, I thought that you played the song great that day! You were really good!" stated May, when made Ed slightly shy, as doing performances like that specifically are uncommon for him, to say the least.

"Thank you very much!" responded Ed, not sure of what else to say really.

"Will you be doing that again?" asks May, out of curiosity.

"It's up to my pals. I would be more than up to help them out with it, as the performance last time was fun! I would like to do a cheerful song for the audience myself." explains Ed. "There was this cool song that I heard that was about rocking out, it was awesome!"

"That's good to hear Ed." said May, with a smile.

Ed actually gets a question in mind he would like to ask May, seeing as it's the best of times to ask it, and it's best to do it now, rather than postpone it... god knows for how long.

"May, why did you and your sisters stop your lovey-dovey stuff? I always thought that it was because of evil mind control, and you guys were free from it!" stated Ed.

Straight to the point! May gets thrown off by that question, as while she already knows why, she finds his version of the answer silly, in a funny way. Regardless, she responds with...

"It was because Marie had shown that what we did before wasn't working, and so did your friend in a way as well." explains May. "I mean, did you see Marie and Double D? It seemed like she had changed the way she went up to him, and then he got more comfortable with her; and then there ya go, they are together. By the way, I'm sorry for what I did before, I really hope you can forgive me for it."

"Aw no worries. You have turned a new page as they would say, and have become a good friend of Ed!" responded Ed, making May hug him in appreciation for his forgiveness, and he also returns the favor.

On the flip side, Eddy and Lee watched the two share a hug, and the former comments, "Match made in heaven at that point, eh?"

"Basically, she's lucky her man is very silly and forgiving. Trust me Eddy, she ain't getting forgiveness if it wasn't for big Ed being nice." said Lee.

"I mean, did you expect anything else from Ed? The lug has always been very nice and welcoming or whatever with others. I'm still surprised he of all people welcomed you guys, especially after the stuff you'd do, my goodness! How did you not get bored?!" responds Eddy, sounding surprised.

"The thrill of it sweetie. But that thrill died out after a while, being truthful with ya. Plus, it seemed like, as May told her man, it cause of Marie showing indirectly how it wasn't working, with a bit of your friend to thank too. Looking back, some stuff was for fun taken too much honestly." explained Lee. "What I'm trying to say is, sorry alright?"

"Really?" said Eddy, more surprised than ever. "Well uh... it's okay. I guess you couldn't have known better?"

Lee takes a neutral expression while staring away, but then Eddy gets an idea that's either going to pay off immensely, or backfire immensely. He decides to snap his fingers to get her attention, before he exhales... and leans in close to her face. Lee already knows what he is trying to do, and so, she also leans in, and the two of them share a kiss. To say that the two of are shocked that this is even happening in a non-ironical way is an understatement. Literally never ending arguments, feuds flying all the time they've known each other, and this is happening. Really makes you think, doesn't it? Moving onwards, after around 15 seconds, they both break it, both with smiles on their faces. Although they don't know, Ed and May noticed as well, looking as though they just witnessed a plot twist to a movie.

"Your first actual kiss, wasn't it?" asks Lee.

"I... uh, yeah actually. Let's count this as the one, alright?" responded Eddy, nervously.

"Don't worry about it." said Lee.

Lee then moves her hand next to Eddy's, holding it, and he returns the favor as well. While he may not show it, Eddy's nervousness would be the equal to that of three sea waves piling onto each other. Never being in this situation before, especially not with Lee of all people, isn't helping matters either. However, at the same time, Eddy enjoys it, admiring the appearance of Lee in a way he has never really done before. It's unlikely he would ever admit to finding himself being attracted to her, it IS the truth that is currently happening. With these current circumstances, Eddy contemplated whether or not he should ask "the question". It's certainly a good time, being the perfect setting for the most part, Lee being into the atmosphere as well.

Little does Eddy know, Lee is ALSO contemplating whether or not to ask him "the question". While she is mostly certain that he is no longer associating her with what happened in the past (as difficult as that is), she hasn't exactly given much thought to how exactly a relationship with her crush would be exactly. Then again, would it hurt to at least try? She is never going to know if she doesn't try, plus, it could also be incredible for the both of them.

"Eddy." said Lee, in a significantly more calmer voice, which makes Eddy wonder what she is going to say.

"I know it's probably a bit early to ask this, but-"

Lee is interrupted, when Eddy puts his arm around her shoulder and says, "I know what you're gonna ask. You know what? Yes."

A weight was lifted off the both of them, but it was replaced with another weight. How do they make it official between them? Well, since Eddy was the one who initiated the first kiss, Lee decides to initiate the next one. As you can imagine, they share a kiss that has... more "passion" behind it, which officially seals the deal!

Ed and May were both still watching, and when they noticed that they sealed the deal, they both clap for them. Surprisingly, neither Eddy or Lee mind the fact that the other two noticed what just happened, as they just wanted to enjoy their special moment. Either way, after around 20 seconds this time, they break it off, and both are left rather speechless, to say the least.

"I'll just say this right now, you really do look incredible, and I really mean it." said Eddy, in a tone that he has probably used one time in his life. That time being now.

"Thanks. You look good yourself too little man, glad with what you chose." responds Lee, in the same tone from before.

While they are enjoying their moment together, May tells Ed, "I can't believe that just happened!"

"Eddy is now with Lee happily! That is great!" said Ed cheerfully for his pal.

May felt slightly awkward however, as of course, she is glad for her fellow sister, no question there... now it seems like it's her turn. So far, there are 2 couples, one potential couple, and one who have decided to leave it on a "maybe" stage for now. May feels as though she and Ed are the "potential" couple, although the issue from her perspective is, she doesn't feel like she's done enough with Ed to gain his full trust.

"May? Are you okay?" asks Ed, breaking May out of her thoughts, and making her blush. In Ed's personal mind, he isn't really thinking of a relationship with May currently. Why? Because he is more wondering what the plan will be for the hangout he has planned with her, as will it be romantic? Or just between two friends? Of course, Ed knows that May has taken a bigger liking to him, that's more obvious than the sky being blue during day, although, how he would express romantic feelings, is something he'll have to take inspiration from the occasional comic book and movie that incorporates romance, as he NEVER expressed romantic feelings for anyone. Like... ever.

"Sorry Ed, I'm just thinking, that's all." responds May, quickly, surprising Ed.

Ed then gets an idea, but before he can mention the idea, May says, "Ed? Can I tell you something important?"

He nods his head as to say yes, and so, May takes a deep breath, before saying, "I know that I haven't exactly made the best first impression with you when we first met, but I... would like to try something more between us."

"Does that mean we are now in a um... uh... what is it again? Relationship now?" stated Ed, making May unbelievable levels of nervous.

"No no! I just mean like, you and I be best pals! I mean, the stuff that you like is interesting to me! I just want to spend more time with you! That's all!" said May, in a tone that just screams nervous.

To Ed, he doesn't fully understand what May is implying by what she is saying. Aren't they already best pals? Besides, he did invite her to a hangout.

"May, you are already a best pal of mine! You must not worry!" said Ed in a tone of reassurance, although he was improving this speech in his mind. "Besides, you and your sisters can join me and my friends when we hang out aswell! Giving us more time!"

Ed shoots May his signature smile, which turns May mood of nervousness into happiness, as Ed's smile was always something she liked about him. The two of them decide to shake hands, which leads into another hug, the both of them both share happily.

May couldn't really ask for much more, as this is giving her the best circumstances for her to be able to connect with Ed on a deeper level, which can then lead into the dream she's always had. Isn't it obvious what it is?

Ed on the other hand, is more than open and happy to invite May to hangout more with him and his friends, as what could possibly an issue? After all, she is no longer the "amorous" type of girl he used to know, so, he sees no issues at all.

Romance, Bloody Romance I tell ya!


	56. Chapter 56: Life Won't Wait

_Author's Note: Well, getting one out on arather convenient day. You'll understand what I mean once you read the chapter, but for now, today, the 26th of October, is actually my 18th birthday_! _Ab_surd _to me, honestly, but hey, it's just life! Anyways, I don't know if I'll be working on the story much, seeing as this will be keeping me occupied for a WHILE... hahaha! But enough of that, enjoy the chapter! :_)

Chapter 56: Life Won't Wait

It's now 7:50 PM, and outside of the house, Chris and Skylar have spent quite a while discussing random variety of heavy metal related things, from albums, stories behind albums, band members, and vice versa. After around 10 more minutes, the latter tells the former, "Hey, do you wanna go back and join the others?"

"At this point, sure. I don't think there's much else for us here. I wonder what's gone on with everyone else." responded Chris.

Oh ho boy! Aren't they in for a surprise! Chris runs over to the door, holds it open for Skylar to go through, after which he closes it. When the two of them get to the living room, they notice the absence of Double D and Marie, but they notice something which is shocking to the both of them, which is the fact that Lee and Eddy are seemingly holding hands, and appear happy. Of course, once the people in the living room notice that Chris and Skylar have returned, they stop what they were doing, and welcome them back.

"Hey man! You're back! How's everything?" said Eddy to Chris.

"It's... nice." responds Chris, while taking a seat with Skylar, who shot a quick wink at him. "Everything okay when we were gone?"

"Yeah, no problems here. Double D and Marie are discussing something upstairs, just so ya know." stated Eddy. "Why do you look like you've just seen a ghost though?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it." said Skylar, taking Chris's position for him, doing him a favor. Although, she gets a reminder about the whole resolution between Chris and Lee.

"Hey, do you want to resolve the problem right now? It seems like we can." whispered Skylar to Chris.

In hindsight, he should've planned to do that the moment he and Skylar both returned from their long chat outside. Of course, he was too busy enjoying the moment, so it didn't cross his mind yet. Regardless of this, he tells her, "You know what? No better time, tell ya the truth."

"Great. Let me go up first, okay?" she states.

With that, Skylar clears her throat before coming over to Lee, and tells her, "Chris would like to say something, is it fine if he tells it right now?"

"Yeah, sure. What does he want to say?" asks Lee.

Skylar then backs away a bit, before Chris comes up, and says, "Look, I'm not going to delay this, so let me just get to the point. I'm sorry for what I did in those situations that we got into, what I did was stupid and in poor judgement, alright? I know that's probably hard to believe, but again, I'm really sorry about that."

"I can't say I can stay mad at ya forever, as to be honest with you, what I did wasn't good either." responded Lee, making Chris extremely surprised. "The whole revenge thing wasn't exactly the best move, especially after what you did at the pit. You're a good fighter, I'll say that much, but neither of us were good or bad."

"Thanks. It was just bad communication and everything. But I'm willing to look past it, as I don't even know of a single benefit from keeping this going, like, at all. I would much prefer to start on a better note." stated Chris.

In Lee's mind, if both of them are being honest, neither of them set a good impression on each other. It ranged from very provoking (in a bad way), to flat out fighting. So, she says, "Honestly? We didn't even start on any note! All of it was just head butting and everything!"

"Well... I guess that's true. But yeah, aside from all of that, want to well... I guess, 'wipe the slate clean', as some would say?" asks Chris.

In response to that, the two of them shake hands in agreement, to try to get used to each other, to not go at each other's throats, and simple make peace amongst one another. Skylar, May, Ed and Eddy watched the whole thing, and all four are proud that this feud has just been cleared up, as hangouts would usually be awkward, especially considering what occurred. Anyways, Lee then says, "We can talk later, go join your woman, and hey!"

"Yeah?" asked Chris.

"Treat her well, I'm sure she's fallen for ya!" said Lee, while snickering a bit.

Chris only chuckles in response, before giving a thumbs up, and rejoining Skylar back at their spot in the living room. Once he returns, she tells him, "Nice, the whole thing is resolved I'm guessing?"

"Yep. No need to worry about another fight that results in ridiculous circumstances, situations, scenarios, and whatever bloody else you could think!" responded Chris, making Skylar laugh a bit at the last part.

"Good. You know, now that I think about it, I feel like we should get Double D and Marie here, but where on earth could they be exactly?" asks Skylar, out of curiosity.

"Here!"

Marie yelled that from a distance, with Double D coming with, holding hands as they are coming back. A couple of laughs occurred at the fact that Double D had a few marks of what are kissed. Oh I wonder oh wonder, how could he have possibly gotten those? What a mystery!

"Greetings everyone!" stated Double D. "Is everyone handing themselves well here?"

"You could say that man!" responds Eddy. "Since all what, eight of us, are here, why don't we say if we've tied the knot? That's the challenge!"

"Don't you think that invades privacy a bit much Eddy? stated Double D. "Besides, I'm sure not everyone here wants to share the details of their relationships with their companions. I suggest something that could involve all of us, but in a less overbearing way. How's a dance work?"

"Not a bad idea! But does anyone have a good dancing song?" said Marie.

Skylar raises her hand, as to say yes, and says, "I got one, but I'll need to know how to play it on the speakers. Chris, mind showing me the way that you managed to play the songs on the speakers?"

"Sure."

The two of them go to the speakers, and after around a solid 3 minutes of them figuring out things, they manage to get the song playing. What is the song? "We're Not Gonna Take It", by a band called "Twisted Sister". Chris also agrees with her that it works well enough for a dance situation. They return back to the rest of the people, and Skylar says, "Got it in! Let's go then!"

In what seems like a role call, everyone gets up and goes to the middle of the house to dance with their respective companions. Double D and Marie don't go ridiculously fast or slow, they decide to take a more middle-of-the-row approach, balancing it out for themselves.

On Lee and Eddy's side of things, they decided to take an approach where Eddy tries to catch her more often, and Lee moves him around more, due to the rather noticeable difference in height. Either way, both of them enjoyed their first dance as an official couple, though no one else knew about said event yet.

With Ed and May, since the former already had an idea of dancing, he decides to bring the latter along, and teach her what he knows. May couldn't help but be amazed at the rather impressive dance skills that Ed knew, not expecting that from him, but complaining isn't something she is doing.

Lastly, with Chris and Skylar, they aren't actually dancing to the song. No, instead they are more just doing a "dance", where they just hold each other, and they give each other a stare into the eyes or two. Admittedly, neither of them have danced with a partner before, let alone dance in general, so neither of them minded per se, it was just very out of place for them.

At around 9:30 PM...

Everyone at this point is very immersed in the moment with their own respective partners, admiring each other for various different reasons, even if they are a bit exhausted, it being QUITE late and all. Although, Kevin has a special announcement, and he goes to the speakers and connects a microphone to announce it.

"Hey everyone! It's now time for the birthday cake! Can everyone gather close to the middle of the living room!" said Kevin.

"Oh man! Let's see what happens here!" commented Eddy.

While a good handful of people have left due to personal reasons, the main people of the cul-de-sac and another good handful of others have stayed still. Regardless, after Kevin announces that, he goes over to the kitchen, and brings the cake, sealed in it's medium-sized box. Nazz comes down herself, and is eager to witness what this cake looks like, as she hasn't seen it. Until now!

Everyone gathers around, but with some space to let Nazz come through, and with that, Kevin reveals the cake, and Nazz is extremely surprised and amazed at said birthday cake reveal. The cake consisted of white swirls that spelled out, "Happy 16th Birthday Nazz!", along with the cake being made of chocolate, with some cream and frosting making a heart, a touch added by Kevin.

"Everyone! Are we ready to sing happy birthday!?" asked Kevin to everyone witnessing, and they respond with variations of yes, and so, everyone begins to sing the famous happy birthday song, minus the part where they say, "are you 1, are you 2...", and so on, as the age was already on the cake. Aside from all of that, Nazz enjoyed the united singing from everyone who was present. After everyone finishes, Nazz blows out the candles, and everyone cheers, claps, and congrats her on being 16.

Kevin tells her, in a whisper voice, "I also have another cake, as I knew this wouldn't be enough for everyone. Let everyone finish that one first, then we will bring the second one out."

Nazz gives a thumbs up in response, and asks who wants a slice of cake. To her surprise, not many people wanted a slice, most likely due to the fact that most had ate quite a lot in the hours beforehand. But some people, such as Ed, Double D, Eddy, Chris, May, and Marie, accepted the offer.

On the other end of the living room, the main crew of 8 are currently discussing the recent event. Or about the cake.

"Man, this cake is amazing guys!" said Ed, happily.

"I must agree Ed, whoever made this cake certainly knows their ways in the process of creating it!" responded Double D. "Although, I will say, I do prefer a more vanilla flavor, but this works just as well."

"You said it man." stated Eddy, with a part of his slice in his mouth. "So, are we still hanging around after this or what?"

"As much as we would love to, we can't, mom wants us back before ten. Look at the time." said Marie. "But I'll stay just to finish up this cake, it's incredible!"

"It really sucks mom wants us home at this time or so" commented May, in a slightly sad manner, which results in Ed giving a light hug from behind, surprising her.

"Well, at least we will have a lot to talk about tomorrow, right?" asks Chris, earning a stare from Skylar.

"Oh won't we?" she says, while wrapping an arm over his shoulder, making him laugh in a nervous manner.

After around 5 minutes, it's time for the Kankers to say their goodbyes to the Eds, their partners. Wow. Can you imagine being a sentence you could say in a non-ironic way? Neither did I. Regardless, Chris and Skylar stay behind, as they prefer to give them privacy, besides, the both can stay for around 10 or so more minutes. Plus, the six of them all go outsides to say their farewells for now.

"I must say Marie, tonight was a lovely night." said Double D, getting a smile from Marie.

"Same here cutie. Catch ya in school."

After that, the two of them share a 10 second kiss, with the both of them smiling at each other. On the other end, Lee and Eddy are extremely mixed about the events that just occurred tonight, finding it rather unbelievable.

"Man... can't believe this." stated Eddy with a sense of disbelief.

"You're telling me. Want me to announce it to the others, or shall I keep it private?" asks Lee, in a tone that was much more calm and surprised Eddy. Aside from that, he responded by nodding his head in an unsure manner. Which results in, well...

"Hey! All of you! Listen up!" said Lee, back to the normal voice that Eddy and everyone recognized most. Some things don't change, do they? Haha!

"What is it?" asked Marie, curious.

"Me and this man have decided to make it official between us!" said Lee, receiving looks of confusion. "He and I both agreed that we care for each other enough, and have done enough fighting, so, we're trying something new to both of us! Ain't that right hun?"

Eddy cleared his throat before saying, "Yeah. You can say it's... well, you can think what you want, but it's official my friends!"

Unexpectedly, the other two pairs say congrats in different ways. Either by clapping, or simply saying congrats. Although, Marie couldn't help but wonder if it was truly an agreement between the two, or if it was genuine. Unable to help her curiosity, she says, "Are you sure you aren't forcing him into this!?"

"What did I just say two seconds ago Marie?" responded Lee, harshly. At that point, Marie couldn't help but laugh before responding with, "Alright alright, happy for ya both!"

"Yeah, me and her did agree to-"

Eddy couldn't finish his sentence, as Lee leaned down and kissed him on the lips, cutting him off. Then again... admittedly, he prefers this anyways, so it's a win for him!

Lastly on Ed and May's side, the latter appears slightly disheartened, which the former doesn't understand.

"May? What's the problem?" asks Ed.

"Nothing much. It's just... I wish this could go on for longer, you know?" responds May, taking a deep breath. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Not to worry my friend!" said Ed, giving her one final hug to wrap up their conversation for now.

And so, all three Kankers got together, and began making their way over to their trailer, while the Eds wave goodbye, and make their way back into the house. Although, just before they turn the first corner, Marie tells her sisters, "Hang on, I need to talk to Skylar real fast, wait here."

The other two sisters nod as to say yes, and Marie runs straight back in, and finds Skylar, having a conversation with Chris currently. She goes up to them and says, "Hey Chris, sorry for bother you and her, but is it okay if I talk to her for a bit? I promise it won't be long."

"Sure, that's fine, no need to ask me. I'll be here." he responded.

With that, Skylar and Marie go outside to chat, and the former asks, "What's up?"

"Me and sisters are leaving, but everything go okay?"

"Yep! He's not going to mention it, but... we had a bit of a moment." said Skylar, chuckling slightly, making Marie curious.

"Wait, does that mean-" said Marie, getting cut off by Skylar instantly, knowing what she was going to ask.

"No. He wasn't fully sure about going into a relationship, because he didn't feel like we knew enough about each other." explains Skylar. "I honestly understood him, so, we both agreed to give each other more time until it's actually something that's he is comfortable with, as that's what I care about."

Marie is stunned at this information, as she expected them to tie the knot in 1, maybe 2 seconds. But to say that these results are insanely different to what she expected is an understatement my good friends. Anyways, Marie says, "I'm surprised, but it's the choice of you two. What did you mean though, by 'had a moment'?"

"I kissed him. What else?" responded Skylar, blunt and as honest as ever.

"Huh, would've loved to see his reaction! Anyway, you go back, I gotta go unfortunately. See ya!" stated Marie, sharing a fist bump between her and Skylar, and with that, they split off back into their separate paths. For now.

Back in the living room, the Eds were in the kitchen, grabbing some refreshments, and returned to the living room, at the same time Skylar came back from her conversation with Marie.

"How long can you stay here? I can't imagine you staying much longer." asks Chris.

"Why? You'll miss me? Just joking, but that's a good question. That will depend on when mom comes over. She told me that she is coming soon, but sometimes when she says that, it's complete bollocks, let me tell ya." responded Skylar. "We can still have a chat or two about stuff if you want. Heck, maybe we can go to your place before my mom arrives."

"Maybe another time, don't exactly have much time together, so to say." said Chris.

"Hey guys!" said Eddy, towards the pair out of nowhere. "You got any news for us?"

"What do you mean?" asked the pair at the same time.

"Eddy, plea-"

Double D was going to tell Eddy not to do what he is about to do, but he covers the former's with his hand quickly, after which he says, "You know, anything occur that we missed?"

When Eddy finished his question, Skylar receives a call from her mother, signaling that she has arrived. Pretty convenient, right?

"Okay, because you are so cheeky and bloody obsessed with knowing, I'll just have you know nothing huge happened. Aside from this." responded Skylar, before delivering a quick peck to Chris, surprising the latter, and quite frankly, making him feel embarrassed.

"Well... yeah. I'm guessing NOW you have to go?" said Chris, not to sure of what else to say.

"Yeah. Well, that's gutting to know. I might aswell get going now, see ya tomorrow in school." responded Skylar, giving a hug afterwards. Chris, of course, returns the favor to her. After they break it, Skylar starts making her way out, but before she leaves, she says to him, in a serious tone, "DO NOT DO ANYTHING STUPID!"

"Oh, uh... yeah! Don't worry! I won't!" responded Chris, not used to that rather unsettling tone from Skylar.

"Good. Love you, catch ya later!"

With that, Skylar makes her way to her mother's car, and now Chris is in a position that is... rather difficult to explain, to say the least.

"Does this mean that you did it man!?" asked Eddy in excitement.

"Oh my goodness, calm down dude! Also, no. I honestly didn't feel like we both knew enough about each other yet, so I said no to being in relationship for now. But she understood, and man, it felt nice having someone who was on the exact same page. Now, let me clarify something, it's not that I now suddenly hate her, or whatever, it's just that we want to spend more time before officially deciding." explained Chris to his friends, Eddy in particular.

"That's a rather interesting mindset. I can understand the perspective of wanting to get better acquainted with your fellow friends, and potential partners. Although, I will knowledge that it's the decision of you two, not of us. I wish you good luck with that Chris!" responded Double D.

"I guess what Double D said makes sense." commented Eddy. "Well, good luck with your woman, but I just scored big time fellas!"

"So that thing I heard from out the window was true? You and Lee huh?" asks Chris.

"Heck yeah! It was just all so perfect, and we both agreed to it! I hope that she doesn't change her mind on it, cause I sure won't!" said Eddy, in yet another tone of excitement.

"Congratulations Eddy! You managed to patch up past conflicts and tensions, and make a new bond!" stated Double D, happy for his best pal. "Just be sure that you're committed to it."

"What Double D said. Happy for ya my friend!" said Chris, while clapping.

"Eddy and Lee are happily together!" yelled out Ed, cheering for his best friend.

In Eddy's mind, he had expected to get several questions about if this was actually something he agreed to, or if it was something that he was forced into, essentially the opposite of the former. But he ain't complaining, as the circumstances at this current moment are much than what he expected!

"Thanks guys! Double D, I'm sure you and Marie are fine, but Ed? How did it go with May?" asked Eddy.

"Oh, it went really well Eddy! Me and May have planned a nice hangout sometime to watch a cool movie!" responded Ed, in the same cheerful tone.

"Awesome! Well my friends, it seems we all got something great from tonight, haven't we?" stated Eddy.

"You could say that. It's getting kind of late though, and I don't think I can stay much longer either." responded Chris. "Here, let's go talk to Kevin once more, and then we will call it a night."

"Not a bad idea. Let's go fellas!" said Eddy.

Kevin is currently in the kitchen, serving cake to anyone who asks for a slice. He notices the crew of four coming over, and says, "Yo, what's going on?"

"Not much my guy. We will got something special with our ladies!" responds Eddy. "We can tell ya all about it later in school."

"Oh I bet you all did! Do you guys have to go right now? Because I can have some slices you can take home, as thanks for helping me out with this party." stated Kevin.

"We must depart, but I'll take the slice of cake. Thank you very much Kevin!" said Double D.

The other three also take their slices, and Kevin says, "You can all go if you need to, thanks again for helping me, would've been harder if it was just me doing this for Nazz."

"Don't worry man. We got your back. Take care brother!" responded Chris.

The crew of four all go outside, and Chris receives a text from his mother, saying, "**Dad is home, where are you?**"

"Well, now I have a reason to go home. My dad has finally returned home." said Chris.

"No way! Can we meet him? I wanna see what the guy behind your sick moves looks like!" said Eddy.

"Alright sure, but let's just make sure we don't take forever with it, okay?" responds Chris.

Well! Ain't this a way to wrap the night! The crew of four all go to Chris's house, and Maria goes to get the door, welcoming her son and his friends back.

"Hey, welcome back! Chris, dad is upstairs right now, but he'll come back down soon." said Maria.

"Good to know." responded Chris.

"The party go well for all of you?" asked Maria, curious of what went down. All four of the lads give rather basic answers, simply stating that they enjoyed the company of the partner they went with respectively, and mentioned the major fight that occurred, but they all got it under control quick. Maria is happy for them, but also appreciates the gesture of taking care of the rather bad crew of people that arrived to the party and caused unnecessary attention and conflict.

However, once they finish telling the stories of how the part went...

"Hey Chris! There you are!" said a voice that sounded deep, yet clear at the same time. Obviously, this is Chris's dad, who came down, in a brown leather jacket on top of a black shirt, navy blue pants, and home shoes that were soft for home wear. He also had a notably medium-sized brown beard and mustache.

"Oh hey dad, glad to see you. These are my friends, Ed, Double D, and Eddy." responds Chris, pointing at the respective Ed boy.

"Ah! Nice to see you three! My name is Zoltan, and you are all welcome to call me that any-day of the week!" said Zoltan, introducing himself to the Eds. "What have I missed between all four of you guys?"

"Well... it goes back quite a longer way Mr. Zoltan. Allow me to explain." said Double D.

Double D explained how he and his fellow Eds met Chris, with some assistance and corrections from the other three. He explained the various hangouts they had, along with the occasional drama they had ran into with the Kankers. Due to being absent from everything, to Zoltan, this is all rather ridiculous and hilarious at some points. Regardless, he is glad that Chris managed to find a good group, as he can tell based on the rather funny personalities of the Eds.

"Well, seems like going on a trip with friends can make you miss a lot huh? Hahaha!" commented Zoltan. "I think I'll want to more later, it's actually quite late, and I think you three lads should get home, would much rather not be grabbing you by the horns from getting home."

"Don't worry about it. What I want to know is, how was it learning the sick moves I've seen Chris do?" asked Eddy.

"Oh, so you've seen my son perform martial arts before I see. Well, I can tell everything about it tomorrow. In fact, how's this good chums, once you all return from school tomorrow, I shall tell the story?" offered Zoltan.

"I do believe that's a good offer. In that case, I think we should we should depart. It was nice meeting you, Zoltan!" stated Double D.

"Same goes to you and the rest of you! Stay safe out there, see you tomorrow!" said Zoltan.

"I'll catch you guys in school alright? Cheers!" said Chris to the Eds.

And so, the Eds all break into their respective homes, finally resting from the overload of crazy events that happened tonight. Back in Chris's house, Zoltan and Chris are currently having a conversation in the living room about things that the former is curious about.

"So, you've known them for a quite a well hmm?"

"Yeah." stated Chris. "Honestly, the circumstances were pretty funny, but man, since then, it's a roller coaster that you have no idea about."

"I can imagine it. It sounds also that those sisters that... Double D I believe, mentioned, have now become friends with them and you now?" asked Zoltan.

"Pretty much. Two of them are dating two of the sisters, but it's their business, not mine really." said Chris. "There's also someone else I would like to you meet too. She isn't another sister from that trio, but someone else I met at school."

"Oh? What's her name?"

"Skylar. She and I have gotten to know each other fairly well this past week or so, plus, she knows a bit about the martial arts thing I do too, because I told her, but I'm sure she would love to come over and listen to the story after school." explained Chris.

"You are welcome to bring her, if you are happy with her company. I'm not implying that you two are romantically involved, what I am saying is, if you are happy with her presence, that's all that matters, as at the end of the day, you know who is wrong and right. If she is able to come over, invite her!" responded Zoltan.

"Thanks dad. I'm sure she will be able to come over. Although, right now, I want to shower and rest for a bit, I've been through quite a long party honestly man." said Chris.

"Understood. Go up, I'll stay here with your mother, as I have some things to talk with her about." stated Zoltan, sharing a small arm wrestle with Chris, ultimately winning.

Oh, life won't wait indeed.


	57. Chapter 57: In Bloom

_Author's Note: Hi there. After a two day or so break, managed to get this chapter done in literally 1 and a half hours. That's a record for me! Beforewe get started, thank you to KiltedEngineer for the birthday wish, appreciate it very much! I've already said my feelings about the whole 18 thing, but that's not what this stuff is about! Start the story Narrator!_

Chapter 57: In Bloom

Let's get started shall we?

It's now 8:00 AM of the following day of the biggest gathering the cul-de-sac has had yet, everyone's minds are in very different degrees. One thing is for sure however. Everyone is a happy family about what occurred during last night's events. Maybe not family, but... crew? You get the idea alright?

Regardless, the morning of today started very similar to yesterday, with a rather large difference. Chris isn't drinking something that will inevitably result in disaster for himself and everyone else. For what he is currently doing, he is finishing up breakfast, as he had already finished up getting his clothes on, a t-shirt of Dio's "Holy Diver" album, black pants, and black shoes. To be fair on the incident during school, he mainly drank all of it so rapidly in order to get it done and over with as soon as possible. At least that was a success in hindsight. Moving onwards, before he leaves the house to meet up with Eddy, his dad has some important news to let him know.

"Chris! Mind coming over for a second? I have good news for you." said Zoltan.

"Yeah sure." responded Chris, coming over to the living room. "What's up?"

"Remember your two friends from your old school? Well, as you know, I'm friends with their parents, and they've let me know last night that they are getting their children to go to Peach Creek. They haven't finished that process yet, must have some papers or other doggerel to solve, but putting that aside, looks like the old will meet the new, won't they?" explained Zoltan.

"Holy crap, really? That's actually surprising, and awesome! Have they told you why however?" asked Chris.

"Not fully, actually. It is strange, but if I were to be a betting man, the original school must've had some major issues to make them move to Peach Creek High. I shall try to find out soon, and let you know why. I'm sure your friends will explain why however, if I cannot figure it out in time." responds Zoltan. "I won't take up more of your time, go meet up with your friends and head to school. Good luck boy!"

"Of course. Thanks for letting me know dad, appreciate it. Catch ya soon!" stated Chris, as he headed out the door.

Over to Eddy's house, he feels like very shaken up by yesterday's events, as registering that what occurred there was reality, not a dream, is something that is much easier said than done in his case. Does he regret it? At this current moment, no, but time will be the test to see if he does or doesn't. Either way, he enjoyed the company of Lee during the party either way. As for getting ready for school, he had returned to his regular style for today. Eddy then hears a ring at the door, which means that it's one of his friends, and so he's heads on over to answer it.

"Hey Chris! How's it going man?" asks Eddy.

"It's all good for me personally. How about you? Still feeling confident about what happened yesterday?"

"Yep. Man, if only you saw it!" said Eddy, in a energy-filled tone. "It was just the best thing ever! Kinda wish we could've gone on longer!"

"Me too, but the night had to end eventually. Don't worry, we will all have a reunion at my place after school, as my dad is very excited about getting to know you and the other two better. He seems to like you guys." commented Chris.

The two of them decide to head on to Double D's house, and Eddy states, "That's good. Your dad seems like a heavy dude, not to be mean or anything, I'm just saying that it seems like he could break a wall or something!"

"Well, appearances often deceive my friend. Besides, like me, he takes after the code of not causing harm unnecessarily, only when it's absolutely needed. So, don't do anything that could cause major disaster, and you're fine. A minor thing or two won't tick him off, if anything, he'll try to help you more than anything." explains Chris. "Besides, the only I recall dad being... aggressive, let's say, was when one time someone tried to rob a store, and he tackled the robber by running up to him, getting rid of the robber's gun by breaking his hand, and delivering a good beating to put the dude down! I don't think the robber ever wanted to rob again. Then again, he got arrested, and the store gave us what we would've bought for free, as thanks for the assistance."

Eddy adopted a face of shock, and clapped for that result. "Man! I gotta learn those moves sometime. But I can't imagine being in that situation man, sounds intense!"

The two of them made it to Double D's house, and Eddy rang the doorbell, while Chris stated, "Yeah. Good thing he was there, because it would've been more dangerous than it was already."

Inside Double D's house, the lad is currently finishing up the organization for his backpack, laying out his school supplies, as he had decided, like Eddy, to roll with his normal style. His thoughts about last night were rather pleasant, as he enjoyed being with his beloved, or significant other, or girlfriend. Or just Marie. Anyway, the whole event, minus the incident at the start, was a blast and enjoyment for him. When he hears the bell, he finishes up his organization, and then he heads on down to join his friends.

"Greetings fellows! Hope your day is well." said Double D to the two at the door.

"It is indeed Double D! How did it go with your girl yesterday?" asked Eddy.

"It went well Eddy! Marie and I had a pleasant time with each other last night, having discussions about one another." responded Double D, wanting to keep what he and Marie talked about private.

While en route to Ed's house, Double D mentions, "Chris, how long will your dad have us at the house?"

"Not very long I imagine. Then again, as I just told Eddy, he would like to get to know you three better, and he seems to like you guys." responds Chris. "It's a story that we've heard before, but it will be from his perspective, not mine."

"Thank you Chris. I merely ask in the event that I need to get going in order to work on something." said Double D.

The three of them go to the window that gives full view of Ed's room, and don't see Ed anywhere? Wait, what?

"Where is he?" asks Chris.

"I don't know! Lemme get in, I'll see what's up." responded Eddy.

Eddy heads in, and it seems Ed is still sleeping, and it covered up from head to toe with his blanket, with his pillow helping out. Eddy noticed this as Ed's snoring isn't exactly very quiet, to say the least. Regardless, Eddy takes off all of the cover Ed had, and yells, "LUMPY! Wake up!"

Ed get awoken, and says, "Hello Eddy!"

"Ed! There isn't much time until school! And why haven't you changed from your fancy clothes?" stated Eddy.

"Oh. That was my mistake, one second please!"

With that, Ed runs into his closet, and comes out in 1.5 seconds with his normal clothes all on him. How he did this is all up for imagination. Anyways, Eddy heads out through the window, with Ed following behind.

"Hello guys! How are my pals today?" asked Ed to his friends.

"All of us are rather well. Shall we start heading to school?" stated Double D.

"Might aswell. Let's go!" responded Chris.

(8:10 AM) At a certain trailer...

The Kanker sisters are finishing up a couple more things before they all head to school together. All three are feeling glad about the previous events, and are currently discussing said events.

"I still can't believe you weren't lying to us Lee! I could've sworn you were!" said Marie to Lee, talking about the fact that the latter got together with Eddy.

"What can I say, changes happen, don't they?" responded Lee, laughing a bit afterwards.

"I'm just happy to be better friends with Ed!" exclaimed May. "I can't wait for us to hangout soon!"

"Oh look at you! Little sis is getting close to her man! Well, catch up soon, because we're ahead of ya! But for real, I'm happy for ya." said Lee toward May, giving her a high five.

"Yeah, but it took you both much more time for that than it did for me! So ha!" stated Marie, teasing her sisters.

"Oh shut up Marie, you just got lucky that you were with the nicer guy!" responded Lee.

"I'm just kidding. Let's all head to school now to see our boyfriends!" said Marie.

That they do. All three sisters gather their belongings, and head to school. The other crew have already made it there, but they won't be far behind.

Speaking of the other crew, everyone is currently taking a look in their lockers to see if there's anything they need for today. While checking, Chris is sneaked up on by a certain someone. Oh, who could that be?

"Hey Skylar, since I know it's you." said Chris, hearing her footsteps.

"Aw what? How did you hear me?" she asked.

"I can hear your footsteps silly." responds Chris, after which he turned around to face her. "Happy to see you."

"Same to you too. Awesome shirt by the way. You all ready for school today?" stated Skylar.

"All of us are basically. Eddy! Do you wanna get going to class early or...?" said Chris to Eddy.

"Alright sure. I will catch you two later alright? See ya!" said Eddy to his fellow friends.

"No worries Eddy, see you soon!" responded Double D.

Over with Chris, Skylar, and Eddy, the group are currently having a talk about the "incident", and what was done in order to stop it.

"Well, because that guy that provoked the entire thing had to be a complete idiot, I had to handle it with force. I would say I didn't like doing that, but that would be an obvious lie, because my god, that dude had to be on some really bad high horse." explained Chris. "I don't look for fights, trust me, but he was just setting himself and his friends up for that to happen. If he hadn't been that way, I wouldn't done anything."

"Don't worry about it love, if anything, it's their bloody fault that they went and did that bollocks, not yours." responded Skylar.

"I haven't even met them either, so not sure why they picked on me of all people." said Eddy. "Whatever man, they are losers, that's the takeaway from all of it!"

"That we can agree on." responded Chris, which results in a laugh from all three. They also make it to their room, and Mr. Muta greets the three of them entering.

"Hello you three. Chris! You're back in good health I presume?"

"Yeah. Sorry about yesterday, it's a long story to explain what happened, but I can say that it isn't happening again, that's for sure." said Chris.

"No worries. If it comes up again, your friends have your back, and so will I. I'll help you with catching up on what you missed yesterday as soon as possible, for now, I'll have Skylar explain it to you, if that's something she is willing to do." stated Muta.

"Of course! I'll get him up to speed:" responded Skylar.

"Thank you very much. Have a seat please." said Muta.

With that, the crew of three take their seats, and await for further instructions from Muta. While they wait, over in the hallway, the Kankers have just arrived, and since they already have their supplies with them, they have no need to take a look into their lockers. They instead decide to visit their boyfriends at their lockers, as the two remaining Eds are still there.

"Hey boys!" shouted Marie from a distance.

Double D adopts a face of happiness, as Marie comes over and hugs him as a way of saying hello to him. She also gives him a kiss afterwards for around 10 seconds.

"Greetings Marie, hope you are well." stated Double D.

"You bet! Did you like last night?" asked Marie.

"I must admit Marie, I would much prefer having more time for all of us to hangout there than be here in school, as much as I like studies." explains Double D. "But it was inevitable I suppose. Aside from those minor pet peeves, it was overall a really great experience. I really enjoyed your company."

Marie smiles as a response to Double D's statement, while he is then asked from Lee, "Hey, what is Eddy at?"

"Unfortunately, he just left in order to proceed to his class this morning. All apologies Lee." said Double D.

"Huh. He's being more responsible. I like it." said Lee, admiring Eddy.

May then goes on over to Ed, and says, "Hiya Ed!"

"Hello May! Is everything okay for you this fine morning?" asks Ed, happy to see May.

"Yes! Are we still going to do the hangout?" said May in excitement.

"That we are!" responded Ed, in which he received a hug from May as a thanks, and he returns it.

Double D then remembers the invitation from Zoltan, Chris's dad, and decides to mention it to the sisters.

"Everybody, I actually have some news. Once yesterday's major events concluded, me and rest of the fellows went to Chris's house, and we all met Zoltan, who is Chris's father." explains Double D. "He had invited all of us to a hangout at the house, seeing as he shared the same welcoming characteristic as the mother."

"So we are able to go too?" asks Marie.

"I'm positive you will be able to Marie, as while I explained the events that have occurred recently, I have also mentioned the repairing and makeups we've all gone through, and he will be welcoming of your three aswell." responds Double D. "If he is reluctant, not to worry, I will vouch as best as I can for you, seeing as you've all dropped the rather aggressive attitude of before."

"Well, if that's the case, and the dad is like the mother, why not? Let's all go!" stated Lee.

"My thoughts exactly. Let's discuss it more later muffin." said Marie towards Double D.

"Noted Marie, let's all head to class now." stated Double D.

And so, all five of them head onwards to their first class of the day. One event might be over, but another follows doesn't it?

Back in Math, Chris and Skylar are currently having a private discussion of what occurred at the tree, which is something that latter brought up.

"So, we still agree right?" asked Skylar.

"Yeah. Also, not to be overly repetitive, but you really looked lovely yesterday." responded Chris, with a slight chuckle.

"Thank you, and it's fine. As long as you're sincere about it, and you're not repeating it so much, you can tell me what you feel, keep in mind." stated Skylar. "By the way, I'm curious, have you had any other experiences like that with anyone else?"

"Probably not gonna believe me, but no. I told the boys this, but here. One time someone tried to get me to be with them, but for one thing, I barely knew her. So that was already a red flag, but when I said no, she tried to start a rumor that we were. I shut that down faster than you can oops, because I HATE rumors, with all my heart, as all it serves is just to cause conflict. Besides, I just didn't like her personality, which to me, is what seals the deal with any relationship." explains Chris, while sighing in annoyance. "Look, maybe if she wasn't so brash and... rash, about the whole thing. I probably would've given her a chance, but... yeah."

"Hmph. Good thing you didn't give into the pressure, as with that type of bollocks going on, you wouldn't have lasted at all. Like, what is wrong with her? You don't bloody pressure someone into a relationship that will amount to jack!" responds Skylar. "I'm not even saying that because I think I'm better, no, I'm just saying that I what she did... absolute wanker, all I can say."

"Don't worry about it. That's in the past now, and I've moved on to someone... to say the least, who I like much better, haha!" said Chris with a smile.

As a response, Skylar gives a quick kiss, and says, "Why thank you, you have a way to adopting conversation circumstances into compliments! Nice one."

"Thanks, and it's just something that... happens. It's hard to explain, but you get it." responded Chris.

Mr. Muta signals that class has started, and so, everyone gets ready for the lesson he is going to deliver.

Wild things, crazy days, and more today huh? Not bad honestly!


	58. Chapter 58: Back In Black

Chapter 58: Back In Black

It's now 3:15 PM, and you know what that means! School is over for today, and the rest of the day is free. Shocking, right? Anyways, everyone of the group of 8 had agreed to come over to Chris's house, as per the invitation of Zoltan. Before they all went together, there was a little something to do beforehand.

"Hey, remember what I told you at the party?" asked Skylar to Chris.

"Hmm... something about your parents, right?" stated Chris.

"Yeah! Here, lemme bring ya to them, this won't take long."

With that, once the two of them go out the door, Skylar brings Chris to the car that the former usually goes home in, which was a dark-green colored 4-door car of medium size. Skylar's mother sees her daughter approaching, and says, "There you are honey!"

"Hey mom, I would like you to meet my friend here." said Skylar.

"I assume you're talking about that bloke next to you?" asked the mother. "Well, my name is Freya, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, my name is Chris." responded Chris. "Me and Skylar have been hanging out for a while, I would say, and she got the idea of introducing me to you so... here we are!"

"Ha! Always the one taking the step, Skylar is." states Freya. "I would introduce you to Rob, but unfortunately he isn't here with me right now."

"That's fine. But that actually reminds me, I invited Skylar to a quick hangout today, so... is it cool if she comes over?" asks Chris, hoping that she would be cool with it.

"No worries lad, as long you're treating her right, I have no issues. If you aren't... expect trouble! But otherwise, yeah." responded Freya. "Skylar, call me when the hangout is over alright? I'll head over to pick you up when you're done."

"Roger. We will heading out now, catch ya later mom." said Skylar.

"Of course honey. Love you, and have fun you two!" commented Freya, as she made began to make her way home.

Chris and Skylar both started their route to join back with the rest of the group, and the latter asks, "So? You feeling good? I told you it wouldn't be a problem!"

"Okay, maybe I just wasn't very sure of the whole idea, seeing as sometimes, oh my goodness, parents can freak the heck out when their kids take a larger connection to someone." explains Chris. "Good thing we kept the whole thing under the radar."

"I told you, until you're fine with the whole idea, I will not say anything about us being official. Nothing bad about that, trust me." said Skylar, giving Chris a light punch to his arm, making him laugh a bit.

"Fair enough. Let's get back to the group."

That, they do. Eddy is the first one to speak, saying, "So, to your house, eh Chris?"

"Yep! My dad is waiting for us, so let's get going!" responded Chris.

With that, everyone begins their trek towards the residence of Chris. After around 5 or so minutes, they all get to their destination, and Double D knocks on the door lightly, for everyone's sake. In around 3 seconds, Zoltan comes out, and is surprised to see the rather large gathering, for a group of friends that is.

"Wow, boyo, you weren't lying when you said that you've made some friends here." said Zoltan towards Chris. "I assume the girl next to you is... Skylar, correct?"

"Yeah, nice to meet you, umm... Chris's dad." responded Skylar, unaware of his actual name.

"Haha! Call me Zoltan, no need for a Mr or whatever name, just my normal, unaltered name works!" said Zoltan while chuckling a bit. "Come in everyone!"

Everyone comes in and takes a seat with their respective partners, in different areas of the room. Ed, May, Double D and Marie use a whole couch, while Lee and Eddy share a couch together, with Skylar and Chris seating next to them. Zoltan grabs a chair, as he left the more comfortable seats to the lads, and so, he clears his throat, after which he says, "So. I have a bit of a story for you eight, but before I tell it, mind introducing yourselves, ones who haven't yet?"

"I'll do it for us all, my name is Lee, and over there is May, and Marie." said Lee, pointing at the respective sisters. "We're the Kanker sisters, and we've been here for quite a while."

"Gotcha, can't believe we've barely been here for what, a month, and there's already a large group of people here. Such is life..." responds Zoltan, saying afterwards, "Well, I shall you all now about how I learned the martial arts that I presume you've seen my son do, and I also presume he has told the story as well?"

"I have actually. You can just tell them about your perspective, as I only gave a general explanation." stated Chris.

"Very well then. At first, I couldn't apply for any classes, due to the fact that I wasn't quite yet the age required to learn said moves." explains Zoltan. "But just because you can't run yet, doesn't mean you can't learn how to walk, and that's what I did. The reasons for wanting to learn them can vary from person to person, but for myself, while yes they were rather interesting to me at a young age, they were also a really good way to teach yourself good defensive and offensive maneuvers. I wanted to be a more prepared man, in the event that I would need to defend myself, a loved one, or someone in need of help. I've had a handful of instances where I've helped others, but only one was rather... dangerous. Chris remembers it clearly."

"I do. The one where that robber tried to rob a grocery store, and you stopped him." said Chris.

Zoltan share a sigh before saying, "Had i not learned what I had learned, I don't know what would've happened. It's always to be best prepared, than it is to have regrets of what could've happened. Learning the moves themselves is a rather special experience, dare I say it, as your body gets to be used more it is does otherwise. I'll also mention it helps train other things aswell, such as your reflexes, how you can predict certain attacks, and much more. Teaching it to Chris was another experience on its own. I must say, at first he struggled to get a handle on it, but his progress shot up more drastically as time passed, which made me proud. I had kept one thing in mind before teaching it to him however. Never teach it to be used in a malicious manner."

"Do no harm, unless needed, right?" asked Eddy.

"Exactly good chum. Either way you say it, the biggest regret you can have when teaching a certain skill to someone is when they go off to cause heaps of trouble that gets uncontrollable, even for yourself. I didn't desire to be cause of it." explains Zoltan. "Although, luckily, Chris understood it from the start, and I was glad, as he has never used it for unnecessary malicious intent. As far as I know anyways. But who's to say I haven't accidentally done that myself? As long as you learn from an experience, it's not a total failure, it's when you start repeating the error that it becomes a problem."

"Yeah. No one is perfect, after all, that's just plain bollocks, if you ask me." stated Skylar.

Double D then asks a question, saying, "Zoltan, have you and your family been threatened before, aside from that incident mentioned before?"

"Nope. Luckily, we've stayed out of trouble's way, but I can't imagine that lasting forever. But you can't worry about the worst all the time, as if you do so, you will never be able to lean back, and enjoy the better things in the life." responded Zoltan.

"Did you always have faith or whatever in your son learning and using the lessons for good?" asks Marie.

Zoltan nods his head to say yes, saying afterward, "Yes. The old should stick around to help the young, as my father, or grandfather to Chris, once told me. As long as someone else knows it, tradition can never truly be rid of, and that is something I firmly believe in."

Chris then says, "Yeah. I'll just say it right now, no matter what happens between all eight of us, we all get other's backs, right?"

"You know it my friend!" responded Ed, in a happy tone.

"It's unity, not division, that brings people together." states Zoltan. "That moment just now demonstrates why. As long as you all stand for one another, help one another, and so on, you will work well together."

"That is true." said Chris with a smile.

"Anyways, the final thing I shall mention about the arts is, while it appears simple to do based on demonstrations, it is all so deceiving when you actually put it to practice, as it becomes a whole another bull altogether." said Zoltan. "If any of you, expect Chris, are to take a class, never expect it to be easy, instead, expect the hardest of the hardest, be on your strongest guard, and keep an persistent mindset, and you will succeed eventually."

"Believe me guys, that bicycle kick wasn't learned overnight." said Chris, making everyone share a bit of a laugh.

"That is true. Either way, I believe I've spoken my piece of the arts. Chris? Remember how class ended?" asks Zoltan.

Of course, Chris remembers, which is to say, he and his father bow to each other, by putting both hands behind their backs, and bending down.

"I always enjoyed the classes we would go together. Heck, you also met that one friend there too, right?" said Zoltan.

"Yeah. He's one of the two that are coming to the school right?" asked Chris.

"Correct."

"Then yep. He was a fellow partner in the class I had. We didn't go to the same school unfortunately, but that's gonna change soon!" said Chris.

Eddy got curious as to who this person that Chris was referring to was, saying, "Who's the other guy? Or gal?"

"Well, since he, and another good friend, is going to our school very soon, you'll meet them then. I'm positive that you'll get along with them, of that I'm certain. All I'll say for now is he is another martial artist like myself, but his style is different, to say the least." explained Chris, afterwards saying, "I'll also say as well, about the whole martial arts stuff, it's not all serious. You can still have plenty of fun trying new tactics, new moves, and perhaps more creative ideas to take their your opponent! I'm sure dad knows what I'm talking about."

"Ah yes. The famous smoke bomb trick you use sometimes. It does come in handy, defensively or offensively. You are lucky that one friend helped you with figuring out what would make that effective creation." responded Zoltan, while laughing a bit.

"Oh yeah, you mentioned her before!" said Eddy toward Chris.

"Yeah, I have." states Chris. "Well, since we got the martial art aspect out of the way, how's some food sound to everyone?"

Everyone responds with a variation of yes, and with that, Zoltan gets an idea for food, as he has all the needed ingredients.

"Chris, why don't you and your friend stay here and wait? Me and your mother will make something I believe you and your friends will enjoy very much." said Zoltan.

"Sure. I have a clue what this food will be, but surprise me!" responded Chris.

With that, Zoltan joins Maria in making the food for the group of 8. Seeing as how they wouldn't mind a bit of food themselves, they also agree to make extra for the two of them, which equals to food for 10 people now. But what exactly is this food? Well, since Zoltan has a great recipe for burgers that have excellent taste, and he has since passed it on to Maria, they both agreed to make those, in a medium size, for everyone. Before the former did anything with what to put in the burgers, he asked everyone if they wanted it either plain, with specific veggies, or all veggies. It was a 50/50 split between the first two, with the only expecting being Double D asking for all veggies.

For 30 minutes or so, Maria and Zoltan both spend the time working together to get the burgers done, both effectively and efficiently. Once the 10th burger is done, they both pass them to the group of 8, depending on who asked for what.

"Almost forgot! Who would like some water?" asked Zoltan, receiving 4 hands up from the group. He also gets one for his wife aswell, making it 5 cups as a whole.

As the group of 10 are eating, Zoltan states, "Apologies for the fact I couldn't have a large enough table for us to all eat at. I'll try to have that here once I can!"

"It's all good, this food is killer!" responds Eddy. "How did you learn this?!"

"My father is the one to thank for that. I changed it just a bit, but it remain the same recipe either way." said Zoltan. "You can use the ingredients here to make a fast, yet great burger, in the event you need a quick lunch or meal."

"Man, where can we learn this?" asked May.

"Perhaps another day, I'll teach you all how it's done. Trust me, it's not a difficult process, easier than charging at a bull that ready for the pounce!" responded Zoltan.

"Alright dad, relax with the bull comparisons, I don't even think most of us here even get it!" said Chris, laughing a bit, afterwards taking another bite.

Everyone spends around 5 to 10 minutes finishing up their burgers, after which Zoltan says, "Well, if you all wish to hangout here for a while longer, I have no issue with that, as it's only four PM."

"Hmm... that reminds me of something. Eds, remember that one time when we spent sometime watching hilarious atrocious movies?" said Chris. "Well, why don't we rewatch one or, maybe two of them, with the new guests?"

Chris tried to word the last sentence in a way that doesn't imply any romantic tones or whatever, wanting to keep it a bit of a secret, for his sake, and everyone else's.

"Heck yeah! It's freaking hilarious!" responded Eddy.

"Let's see what you boys get up to watching!" stated Marie, while chuckling.

"I promise you Marie, it isn't anything that would get the story an M or MA rating." responds Double D. "It's more just for laughs, if anything."

And so, the very large crew decide to watch one of these said movies, and needless to say, laughing and mocking of the film ensues, at the acting that looks like student-film level... actually nevermind, those films would probably STILL be better. Oh yeah, and the effects? Yeah, to say that they appear cheap is an understatement in itself my friend. There are other aspects that were funny to the crew, but the two mentioned before were the major ones to write home about.

After 70 or so minutes, the movies ends. The short length of the film was something the crew also mocked aswell.

"Dude! Is that even a feature film length? Because I don't even think it is!" stated Chris.

"Usually a film lasts around ninety minutes, but this one didn't seem to last more than 70 minutes without its credits, which we skipped." said Double D. "This movie seems to have a rather... troubled production, to say the very least. There has to be a director's cut that gives more time to the movie, correct?"

"I doubt we're gonna find it, but man, that was a blast!" stated Eddy. "I'd pay more to watch more like that! Especially with all of us!"

"You said it. Dumb movie, but good to laugh at." responded Lee, chuckling a bit.

Double D, wanting to change the conversation, asks, "Chris, I was going to ask this question before, but then the food portion of the hangout came along, which, I must say, my thanks to your father for the food. The main question I would like to ask is, when will the fellow friends of yours be arriving to our school?"

"Ah, well, my dad didn't give me a very specific answer, to be honest with you." responds Chris. "All I can infer, so to say, is that they will be arriving most likely next week, if I'm to be... more realistic. Again, not to worry, I'm sure you all will get along just fine."

"Guys!" yells out Ed. "I just remembered something!"

Everyone states at Ed with a face of wonder at what exactly he remembered, and he says, "Remember that machine we were working on at the very beginning of the story?"

"Oh yeah! The transportation thing!" said Eddy. "Is that thing even practical to make, in hindsight?"

"Eddy, I have already explained to you how this idea was rather impractical." responds Double D. "Besides, the houses aren't even far apart to warrant that construction!"

"I got an idea instead. Why don't we change the machine's purpose all together? How about... ah! Speakers maybe?" stated Chris.

Marie joins in on the conversation, saying, "That sounds great, but is this only you four, or all eight of us?"

"If you all want some privacy, that's fine, just let us know." said Skylar.

Well, ain't that a strange situation! Double D initially took confusion to Marie's statement, but he realized that... none of the girls even knew about that thing until literally today! Of course, he plans to invite them all, seeing as... 16 hands are better than 8 hands, right? Besides, the more people there are working on it, the faster it will go, basic math really.

"While I am aware that you all have not participated in this machine whatsoever... we do plan to make it from scratch, so, would you all care to accompany us to it?" stated Double D.

"You betcha!" responded all four.

"Where is the machine though?" asked Chris.

"Don't you remember?" responds Eddy. "It's in Double D's backyard, that's when we met you!"

Chris then gets that classic "ah ha!" moment, as demonstrated by the look on his face, then says, "Roger then. Let's all go to it then!"

Before they all start making their way, Chris tells his parents, "I'll be back soon, take care okay!"

The two parents wave to say goodbye to all their guests, and Zoltan gives a thumbs up to everyone aswell, thoroughly enjoying his fair share of time with the large crew. Both of the parents are glad with the group that their son joined, so to say.

Speaking of the group, onto Double D's house, and into the backyard, to begin the official rework of the machine, into a good speaker!

Sounds like work! Oh wait...


	59. Chapter 59: Finale

Chapter 59: Finale

Finale? What?! Oh my. Well, let's get going then. By the way, lovely readers, stick around after the end, the author has a bit of a surprise for you. Anyways, onto the actual story!

The group of 8 peeps have begun work, and seeing as it was around 5:15 PM, they all agreed to work on this until around 7:30 or so, just so that they don't spend their days working on this thing. After all, everyone wants to do other things, not just a one-note type of thing.

As for who was assigned what, Chris, Ed, Marie and Lee were assigned for carrying objects that were rather heavy in weight, and also finding said objects that were needed. Seeing as they are the strongest of the whole group, it made sense, right?

Double D, May, Eddy, and Skylar were taking of the rest, such as organization of the parts, figuring what goes where, how something works, and fixing up any issues that might arise. In addition, they check up on the sound, just to see if it is registering correctly.

Now, you might think just because there are a lot of people working on this, flaws wouldn't occur? Well... that would be incorrect! Flaws do arise, such as for example, Eddy accidentally adjusted something incorrectly, and the speaker made a horrible loud screeching noise that sounded like the noise a bomb fuse makes before exploding. Or something of that manner.

Another thing that would occur sometimes is, that example from before was a loud one. How about one where there just isn't any sound? Yeah, that occurred a handful times too, however it did get quickly resolved. Although, sometimes they forgot to turn the volume down on Chris's phone (the connected device), and it would blare LOUDLY. For a brief few seconds. I'm sure the neighbors are 120% fine. No complaints at all!

Last issue that was common was, in terms of its sound, it would be clouded by a rather annoying buzz, or fuzz-like sound, making the songs sound horrendously, like it came from a 1940's microphone. Despite all of this, the crew persisted, after all, they don't exactly know what else to do with the parts, sell them? Destroy them?

At around 6:40 PM, Double D tells the crew, "Everyone, I believe we should take a break from this, seeing as my ears feel like they might start ringing, and I'd much rather not take chances with such an idea."

"Telling me! I almost destroyed that thing!" exclaimed Eddy, annoyed. "It almost took off my eardrums! Ugh."

"Relax sweetie." states Lee. "You'll be okay. You ain't listening to that every second of the day, right?"

The two share a kiss after Lee says that, and Eddy gives it back, of course. They break it after 5 seconds, after which Marie says, "Man! Hard to believe you two got together, especially after everything!"

"Marie isn't wrong." said Chris. "But hey! I'm pretty sure being all... romantic or whatever, is better than not, right?"

"Pssh, how about you and your man Marie! Don't be comparing now!" fired back Lee.

"While I can certainly understand this perspective, I must mention that it's all from a genuine place." explains Double D. "Everyone here has seemingly gotten to care and have trust in one another, which doesn't come from nowhere. Trust, love and care, that's where it comes from!"

Once Double D finishes up his last sentence, he receives an unexpected kiss from Marie on the lips, in which he gives back. While they're "busy" with that, Ed states, "I'm just glad to call you guys my good pals, as the more... the uh... married?"

"It's the more, the merrier Ed." responded Chris. "But you said eh?"

"Indeed he did eh? Although I came rather late to your party, glad I can be with you." stated Skylar, making Chris laugh nervously.

"I agree with you Skylar! This is fun!" said May.

Double D and Marie break off their kiss, before the former says, "Well, I'm glad we all agree on that. Refreshments anyone?"

Everyone says a variation of yes, and so, they all head into Double D's living room. Since it was what was easiest to give, Double D gave everyone a glass of water, letting the crew know that if they wanted a refill, just to let him know. While taking a break, the crew decide to strike up a conversation about some stuff.

"Man, it's hard to believe." said Chris out loud.

"What is?" asked Eddy.

"Well, okay... how do I explain... since I got here, it seems like the plot of a ridiculous drama filled romance novel unfolded. On top of this, it's just absurd how much things seem to have changed here in what feels like a very short span of time. Either I'm overthinking this, or something else." explained Chris.

Double D added on, "I can certainly understand your sentiment, as it seems as circumstances had indeed taken a noticeable turn in the last few weeks. While we've all had our conflicts, I believe it's rational to assume that we've all moved on from that, and moved on to much more civilized manners."

"We are all a happy family!" yelled out Ed, after which he somehow grabs EVERYONE into a rather tight hug. Perhaps he has the ability to extend his arms? Regardless, everyone, with the exception of May, shouts "ED!", and he lets them all go, laughing a little bit.

"You can also add tight to that, my god." stated Eddy, stretching a bit.

Lee shares a laugh at Eddy's statement, saying, "I thought you liked some hugs, eh?"

"Yeah, just not ones where my spine is about to break! How are you even questioning me on that one?!" exclaimed Eddy.

"Alright, you got a good point. I better not hear you complaining with me however!" responded Lee, jokingly.

Eddy gives a sheepish smile and two thumbs up, to signal that he agrees. Very reluctantly.

"If I can throw my two cents here, I know I wasn't here for like, I don't know, half of this stuff, but it is nice to see everyone having making peace, and not being constant knobs about it." stated Skylar.

"Don't worry about it Skylar, you're no less important, as you've helped one of us out at least, me being one of them." responded Marie.

May also adds on, "Yeah! Thanks for the makeup you did the other day!"

"Your welcome for that, it's no issue." responds Skylar. "It's one of the things I specialize in, as my mother would say, but yeah. Happy to help any of you seven out with anything, be it school, personally, or just general assistance!"

"Thanks, but I gotta ask, what happens next with us? I mean, do we all collaborate or whatever to make the biggest money making machine or what?" asked Eddy.

"As long as it's in legal terms, perhaps that would be something we could possibly plan out in the future Eddy. At this current moment however, it doesn't seem as though we can currently do such a thing, seeing as we are rather young still, and don't quite have the intellect required of such an activity." explained Double D.

"That sounds awesome honestly." responds Chris. "But let's be sure of one thing, we all communicate about it, because oh boy, miscommunication, or no communication, it's all going to spell out conflict."

"Agreed." responded everyone, or in a different manner of speaking.

Eddy then gets the idea for something entertaining, asking Chris, "Did you ever have anything cool like breaking boards at your arts school?"

"Yeah, why? Want me to do something like-"

"Heck yeah!" said Eddy, interrupting Chris. "I'm sure we can find some spare boards in Double D's garage."

"I mean, I'd up for it usually, but right now, we've got a bit of a-"

"Do it! Do it! Do it!" chanted everyone, expect Double D and Skylar, the former of which didn't want to pressure him into it, in case he didn't exactly want to, and the latter of which states at him with a face of curiosity.

"Oh my lord. FINE! Get the boards out, and I'll show you how it's set up correctly." responded Chris.

"Not to worry! Double D! Get that boards!" stated Eddy.

"Hang on just a second Eddy, we haven't established how many boards we should bring!" responds Double D. "Chris, how many should I bring?"

"Five is fine. It's the maximum amount you could break at the school at this age." explained Chris.

After 5 minutes, they get the boards, and set up a stand in the living room. The five boards were all on top of 6 stone bricks, separated 3 by 3, and leaving a hole in the middle, just in case the person who struck the boards down managed to strike their hand through said boards, which would be impressive!

"Are you certain you can do this? Seems like a bit much..." asks Skylar.

"Relax, this is nothing in comparison to other stuff I would do sometimes. Let me take a couple seconds to practice." responded Chris.

What he means by that is, he takes a couple of deep breaths in and out, and does a couple of practice swings, where he almost hits the boards, but it's mainly to coordinate his strikes better than if he didn't practice his strike. After around 10 seconds, Chris takes one last deep breath in...

...and out...

"**YAAAAAAH!!!" **

...and strikes and manages to strike down all five boards with his hand shaped as if he was cutting something, which also manages to go through the space left by the bricks. Everyone claps and cheers for that achievement, surprised that he even managed to break all the boards.

"For the record, when you turn older, as my dad told me, you can actually practice ten boards, if you can even believe it." stated Chris.

"Is your hand okay man? That didn't look pretty!" asks Marie.

"Yeah, it's fine." responds Chris. "If I did with my forearm... let's just say I would need to be in the hospital right now, but luckily I didn't, so I'm fine."

"Well done my good friend! I shall clean up this mess, and then we shall finish up our break, and then return to our work." said Double D.

After around 20 minutes of resting and taking a break as a whole, they all decide to get back to the speaker!

It's now around 7:20 PM, and it's almost time for everyone to part. But before that, Double D wishes to test the speaker one more time, just to ensure that it does the purpose it's made for.

"Does anyone have a song they wish to test? By the way, thank you Chris for letting us use your phone for the purpose of testing the sound."

"No problem." responds Chris. "I have a song we can use though. Let me set it up."

After a quick minute, Chris plays the song in full, to test the speaker completely. What is the song that he picked? Well, that would be "Sad But True", by Metallica. Not a bad choice, if I do say so myself! Anyways, the group of 8 let the song play out, and huzzah! No sound issues, or weird noises, random skips, nothing! The only thing that the speaker lacks is... basically it's appearance, as it's basically if you took a turtle out of it's shell. Yeah, that's how the speaker looks like right now.

Once the song is over, Double D says, "I must say, this speaker idea was a much more interesting, and plausible idea than what we had originally envisioned!"

"Telling me, now we don't have to use a small boom box!" states Eddy. "All we need to do is make it look fancy, and there she goes boys!"

Everyone claps for their united achievement. While not done completely, it's much easier to make a home for the speaker than it is to make the speaker itself. Ain't that a statement!

"So, we parting ways now or what?" asked Lee, having a thinking expression on her face.

"I guess so, but hang on!" responds Eddy, before he signals Lee to come over somewhere a little bit far from the others, just to be sure that they are talking in private. "Listen, umm... I wanna invite ya to my place. Maybe a dinner or something? I think it'd be cool, ya know? To uh..."

"Don't say more. You got me interested. Be sure to dress up like ya did at the party. You sure know how to impress a girl Eddy, more than you know." responded Lee, with a smirk on her face.

"Great! Um, let's go back to the others alright? We'll talk more about it later." stated Eddy.

The two of them return to the rest of the crew, and Marie is currently having a conversation with Double D about...

"Guess I'll catch ya later dreamboat."

"Not to worry Marie, school guarantees us seeing each other sooner rather than later!" responded Double D, before receiving a kiss from Marie on the lips for a quick second.

"Figures eh? Love you!" said Marie, joining back with her sisters.

Ed and May stare at each other for a quick second, before the former remembers about the original plan to hangout privately... which didn't happen for obvious reasons. So, he tells the latter, "Aw, we didn't get to watch the movie."

"Oh! It's okay Ed, this was still fun to do with you. Another time we will do it!" responded May with a smile, hugging the very large Ed boy afterwards. He returns it of course, and they hug each other for around 15 seconds or so, before breaking it off.

Over with the last pair, Skylar tells Chris, "Guess this is bye for now eh? I know you were tell me something else, but this got in the way. Don't worry about it though, we will do it another day. See you tomorrow love."

"Hold on! Everyone!"

Everybody stops in their tracks, and listens to what Chris has to say. Whatever it might be.

"You can't leave now." said Chris, in a serious tone.

"What's the matter? Is something wrong?" asked Double D, confused.

Chris clears his throat, before turning around, his back facing his friends. He then states, "There is one last thing I wanna do, and it's very important."

He turns back around to face his friends... and says, "I WANNA ROCK!"

When Chris said that, the speakers started blasting out Twisted Sister's "I Wanna Rock", in almost perfect synchronization! Everybody either laughed a bit, or facepalmed, but ultimately decide to join in, for one last jam, so to say. Besides, it appeared as though everyone liked the song, it being very chant-like, and understandable!

And so, that concludes the adventure of love, fighting, drama, and heavy metal, as the group of 8 decided to have the last jam for the night to that song that is currently playing.

The end! For now anyways. 

_Author's Note: Wow. Just wow. I can't even describe how crazy it feels to say that it's the end for Ten Seconds To Love. Although, this story is obviously over, I still have some stuff to say about it! I'll tell you a couple of answers to some questions about it you might have_.

_First of all_, _how did it come to be?_

_Well... would you believe me this story goes all the way back to late 2017? Yeah! Let's start there. Originally_, _I asked myself a question_, _that being, "how would it be like to live in a cartoon world?"_. _You can imagine how bored I must've been to have thought of that eh? So, yeah, I worked on a what if-type of thing based on that idea... it didn't last more than one paragraph_. _Hahaha! Funny to think it started not even more than ONE small paragraph_, _and it's how it is now. How times change_.

_Anyways, progressing forward, in late 2019, 2 years later, I went through lost papers of my past school years, and I found the same paper that contained the paragraph. I kept it (along with other nostalgic stuff) in a notebook. Then one day, during AP Government_, _a class I couldn't stand_, _I got so bored that the idea resurfaced again. So, I began writing it again, from scratch nonetheless! How far it did go? Well, it went to 15 chapters! Those 15 being the first 15 of this story! Yep! What I wrote in the notebook in those 15 chapters, is the same thing that I wrote here, expect with minor tweaks and corrections to errors. _

_I must admit aswell, the premise changed a LOT in the new version_. _What I mean by that is, originally the story had no Double D/Marie pairing_, _AT ALL. Nor did it have... anything pairings, or something of large stakes really, as the one paragraph in the original was just the prologue. In this new version_, _obviously Double D/Marie became a part of the story, but also the whole other part of the story changed to be an entirely new character. As I previously stated, the original concept was one made out of boredom. In this version of the story that you're reading right now, I changed the character of Chris completely_, _making him completely different from me, as... the more I thought about it, I wasn't 100% comfortable with, "myself" being a character, like in the original version. So, I decided to make a completenew character instead. I should also mention that from chapter 16, the story was no longer written from a notebook. Instead, it was written all on here! Which was a LOT better, for obvious reasons, haha! I'll also mention that when chapter 16 was written... I knew that I was in for a long story!_

_With that being said... THIS STORY WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE THIS LONG, I have to admit this right now. Hold that phone however, do I regret it being this long? Honestly, no. Was it stressful sometimes, being stuck and all? Yes, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy writing it! A handful of chapters I recall being really fun, and interesting to write personally. However, I expected to not even write 40 chapters, seeing as I didn't think these ideas had much potential to take bigger forms. That statement aged like milk, hahaha! Yeah, nearly 60 chapters. I can't even believe it man, because again, when something grows into something much bigger than you expected... can'tfigure out the right words right? Hahaha! If there's something I could say from writing this story... THINK ABOUT HOW YOU WRITE IT! Make sure you know how long certain things will take to conclude, and in general, having a decent template is a smarter idea than just going in blind like I did, haha! _

_Do I have any regrets with this story? Well, something I regret not doing in this story was more fight scenes! If I recall correctly, the chapters that have fight scenes are 16, 20, and 53. 3 chapters out of 59?! That's INSULTINGLY low! Then again, I can't exactly blame myself, as I feel like the theme of this story is generally romance and drama, plus humor, more than anything. Then again, I did say that there was only a "bit" of fighting; so... checkmate on myself there. _

_Another regret I have is... okay, personally, I do not like the first 10 chapters very much. I'm not saying that they are horrible to me now, but I don't feel like they really do a lot. I'll give myself this, I wrote those WAY before I knew what it would grow into now, so I won't be too harsh. But, the only chapter I genuinely dislike is 41. Looking back... the idea I had just struggled to take from into something I felt was manageable, and look where that got. I can't even give myself an excuse, that chapter just isn't done well! If you're confused as to what I dislike about it, it's basically the main plot point that occurs there. I do like the interactions with the characters once the point of it wraps up, but wow._

_Last thing I'll say, man, thank you to SEVERAL of many favorite artists for giving me the kick, energy and motivation to write this thing. You'd be surprised how many times I'd write more effectively with some Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Pantera, Metallica, Motley Crue, and so on in the background. Plus, you can't forget about the people who have stuck with this thing, always appreciate a review, be it positive, neutral, or negative. _

_Next question, is there going to be a sequel?_

_Yes. Nothing more to it than that. Yes, there will be a sequel, but don't expect it fast, as I have to plan it out. Can I give you some teasers as to what to expect? Sure. It will follow Ten Seconds To Love. That's all._

_I'm just kidding! Haha! Well, for one thing, the story is likely to be rated T, as what I have in mind involves something that... let's just say wouldn't fit the rating Ten Second To Love has. Then again, this story wasn't far from a T rating, was it? I would like to say more about it, but I feel like I'm going to spoil something on accident, so, the last thing I can say about it is... expect it to be a bit more dark than this story. There will still be humor here and there, so not to worry about it being all dark, haha!_

_Final thing I'll address... the biggest elephant in the room. What is it?_

_Well, that would be the chapter titles. So, some of you may or may not have noticed, but basically all of them are named after songs! Yeah, initially I did one or two titles as a joke... but then it just manifested into all of them being named after titles! Since this is the case, I've made a REALLY long list of every song referenced, with their chapter number first, then the song, who made it, and what album it's from. There will be some special exceptions, but you'll see them! Also, if a chapter isn't listed, it's because it's not named after a song. So heads up there!_

_Chapter 1: "In The Beginning" from Motley Crue's 1983 album, "Shout At The Devil"._

_Chapter 2: "So Far, So Good..." from Megadeth's 1988 album of the same name, just with "So What!" _at the end.

_Chapter 3: "The Ultimate Sin" from Ozzy Osbourne's 1986 album of the same name._

_Chapter 4: "Lock Up The Wolves" from Dio's 1990 album of the same name._

_Chapter 5: "Be All, End All" from Anthrax's 1988 album, "State Of Euphoria"._

_Chapter 6: "Who Cares Wins" from Anthrax's 1988 album, "State Of Euphoria"._

_Chapter 7: "Dream Evil" from Dio's 1987 album of the same name._

_Chapter 8: "Shot In The Dark" from Ozzy Osbourne's 1986 album "The Ultimate Sin"._

_Chapter 9: "Breaking All The Rules" from Ozzy Osbourne's 1988 album, "No Rest For The Wicked"._

_Chapter 10: "Looking For Today" from Black Sabbath's 1973 album, "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"._

_Chapter 11: "Eye Of The Beholder" from Metallica's 1988 album, "...And Justice For All"._

_Chapter 12: "...And Justice For All" from Metallica's 1988 album of the same name._

_Chapter 13: _"_Bark At The Moon" from Ozzy Osbourne's 1983 album of the same name._

_Chapter 14: "Where Eagles Dare" from Iron Maiden's 1983 album, "Piece Of Mind"._

_Chapter 15: "Fabulous Disaster_" _from Exodus's 1989 albumof the same name._

_Chapter 16: "It's A Raid" from Ozzy Osbourne's 2020 album, "Ordinary Man"._

_Chapter 17: "On With The Show" from Motley Crue's 1981 album, "Too Fast For Love"._

_Chapter 18: "Time After Time" from Ozzy Osbourne's 1991 album, "No More Tears"._

_Chapter 19: "Evil Never Dies" from Judas Priest's 2018 album, "Firepower"._

_Chapter 20: "Blackened" from Metallica's 1988 album, "...And Justice For All"._

_Chapter 21: "Among The Living" from Anthrax's 1987 album of the same name._

_Chapter 22: "Are You Experienced?" from Jimi Hendrix's 1967 album of the same name._

_Chapter 23: "Make My Day" from Motörhead's 1991 album, "1916". (the album was RELEASED in 1991, and its title is 1916, in case that looked confusing. Can't blame you though!)_

_Chapter 24: "5 Minutes Alone" from Pantera's 1994 album, "Far Beyond Driven"._

_Chapter 25: "Caught In The Middle" from Dio's 1983 album, "Holy Diver"._

_Chapter 26: "Feel Your Love Tonight" from Van Halen's 1978 album "Van Halen l". (Rest In Peace, Eddie Van Halen.)_

_Chapter 27: "A New Level" from Pantera's 1992 album, "Vulgar Display Of Power". (this is the heaviest song out of the list, so heads up there.)_

_Chapter 28: "King Nothing" from Metallica's 1996 album, "Load"._

_Chapter 29: "Remember Tomorrow" from Iron Maiden's 1980 album, "Iron Maiden"._

_Chapter 30: "The Negative One" from Slipknot's 2014 album, ".5 The Gray Chapter"._

_Chapter 31: "Same Ol' Situation" from Motley Crue's 1989 album, "Dr. Feelgood"._

_Chapter 32: "Knock 'Em Dead, Kid" from Motley Crue's 1983 album, "Shout At The Devil"._

_Chapter 33: This one references the first set of lyrics from the song "Fuel", off Metallica's 1997 album, "Reload." (The lyrics being: gimme fuel, gimme fire, gimme that which I desire.)_

_Chapter 34: "Wild Side" from Motley Crue's 1987 album, "Girls, Girls, Girls"._

_Chapter 35: "Jump In The Fire" from Metallica's 1983 album, "Kill 'Em All"._

_Chapter 36: "Neon Knights" from Black Sabbath's 1980 album, "Heaven And Hell"._

_Chapter 37: "Bring Tha Noize" from Anthrax's 1991 compilation album, "Attack Of The Killer B's"._

_Chapter 38: "The Dirt" from Motley Crue's compilation album of the same name._

_Chapter 39: "Welcome To The Jungle" from Guns an' Roses's 1987 album, "Appetite For Destruction"._

_Chapter 40: "Before I Forget" from Slipknot's 2004 album, "Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses"._

_Chapter 41: "No Class" from Motörhead's 1979 album, "Overkill"_

_Chapter 42: "Come As You Are" from Nirvana's 1991 album, "Nevermind"._

_Chapter 43: "Heart-Shaped Box" from Nirvana's 1993 album, "In Utero"._

_Chapter 44: This one is complicated. Well, actually not really, as it refers to the opening line to the song, "T.N.T", from AC/DC's 1976 album, "High Voltage". _

_Chapter 45: "Don't Tread On Me" from Metallica's 1991 album, "Metallica", or otherwise known as the black album._

_Chapter 46: "Dirty Deeds Done Dirty Cheap" from AC/DC's 1976 album of the same name._

_Chapter 47: "Under The Sun" from Black Sabbath's 1972 album, "Vol 4"._

_Chapter 48: "Dazed And Confused" from Led Zeppelin's 1968 album, "Led Zeppelin l"._

_Chapter 49: "Believer" from Ozzy Osbourne's 1981 album, "Diary Of A Madman"._

_Chapter 50: "Wheels Of Confusion" from Black Sabbath's 1972 album, "Vol 4". _

_Chapter 51: "Crazy Train" from Ozzy Osbourne's 1980 album, "Blizzard Of Ozz"._

_Chapter 52: "United" from Judas Priest's 1980 album, "British Steel"._

_Chapter 53: "The Mob Rules" from Black Sabbath's 1981 album of the same name._

_Chapter 54: "Breathing Lightning" from Anthrax's 2016 album, "For All Kings"._

_Chapter 55: "Rainbow In The Dark" from Dio's 1983 album, "Holy Diver"._

_Chapter 56: "Life Won't Wait" from Ozzy Osbourne's 2010 album, "Scream"._

_Chapter 57: "In Bloom" from Nirvana's 1991 album, "Nevermind"._

_Chapter 58: "Back In Black" from AC/DC's 1980 album of the same name._

_And that's all! The only chapter that isn't named after a song is... this one! Hahaha! Oh wait! Almost forgot, the story's title is actually named after Motley Crue's "Ten Seconds To Love" song, off their 1983 album, "Shout At The Devil". _

_It was honestly pretty fun to see what I could name the chapters, as I wanted to give them a label, so that it could be easier to reference. I'll admit, sometimes I laugh at how, the chapter's theme doesn't fit with the song's tone. Like, for example, 5 Minutes Alone is a rather heavy song, but the chapter... isn't. I don't exactly know why, but it's just funny to me._

_Anyways, I've spoken for LONG enough, oh goodness man. If you have a question for me that I didn't answer here; PMs exist for a good reason my friend. For now though, I'll shall be taking a break, and then soon, I'll plan out the ideas for the sequel. Until then, take care my friends!_

_-AceOfSpades1980_

_(P.S this chapter had to be reuploaded due to issues occurring with the first time, apologies for any confusion!)_


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